Power Rangers Zeo: Shadow of the Dragon
by dtm666
Summary: Volume 1 of the Breakdown trilogy. Tommy stands alone against a mysterious new enemy who not only captures his fellow Zeo Rangers but also controls the old zord of the former Green Ranger. COMPLETED. R
1. Chapter 1

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter One

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

On the lunar surface, a rickety old Winnebago rapidly speeds ahead towards an ominous black castle in the backdrop. The driver of the vehicle is Lord Zedd, once-master of his domain driven away by King Mondo and his corrupted Machine Empire just last year. Mondo had thought Zedd and his crew to be gone forever, his mind set on adding Earth to his list of dominated worlds of the Machine Empire.

But a year later, the Machine Empire is in shambles and nowhere close to conquering Earth, defended by a mighty force known as the Zeo Power Rangers. Lord Zedd made his return and dealt a crippling blow to the leaders of the Empire, with the help of a specially designed bomb disguised as a gift to take out the Machine monarchy. With Mondo out of the way, Zedd could finally make his way back to his cherished lunar palace.

"Our trick gift worked well," drooled Rito Revolto, the idiot brother of Rita Repulsa. "Didn't it, Ed?"

"ZEDD, you stupid oaf!" the fleshman roared, partly in anger but mostly annoyance. "LORD ZEDD!" He paused for a moment and spoke more calmly. "But you're right, fool. My little surprise for the Machine monarchy did indeed work wonders." He looked ahead as he saw a silhouette of a familiar sight. "In fifteen minutes, we'll be home and we'll take back what is ours."

In the back area of the vehicle, Goldar stared at his plate of food, slightly discolored pieces of string covered in a soothing red liquid that is thick and chunky in its composition. With a quick spin on the rusted fork, the Titan awed as he slowly spun the fork around within the food, slowly rolling a small ball of strings together. Gently, he lifted the fork and slipped it into his mouth and pulling the utensil out in one quick motion. It took several chews for Goldar before he swallowed, but the soothing sigh that was let out indicated his enjoyment of the food.

"Ew!" Rita Repulsa screeched as she approached the back area, "What is that?"

Goldar spoke after swallowing. "It is an Earth delicacy." He paused to consume more of the stringy food before swallowing again. "I believe the humans call it 'spaghetti.'"

"Spaghetti?" Repulsa bellowed, wide-eyed. "You were on Earth for several months, we purge your minds of all that crap."

"I happen to like the food." Goldar mused. "It is almost like the Tarkarian worms Mother used to make, with the sweet Liarian stew sauce."

Repulsa, disgusted by the food or the description... or both... walked off forcibly, bumping into Rito who was just walking by. Goldar simply shrugged and turned his attention towards the food, consuming it as if it was a woman. Rito stared at the plate of food and extended his hand to grab a bit, but the titan quickly pulled out his sword and extended towards Rito's neck. Rito pulled his hand back.

Goldar grinned. "That's the first intelligent thing you've done all your life." He soon returned to eating his meal.

-o-

The Angel Grove Youth Center has been quiet for the past few days. It had its usual share of patrons, and business has been running smoothly, but there's a different feel in the air when you walk in the place, as compared to last week, when the Zeo Rangers and the monarchy of the evil Machine Empire had their epic final battle in the middle of the desert. To the Rangers, a quiet day at the Youth Center simply meant business as usual, although the absence of Bulk Skull did seem peculiar.

"What is he doing?" Tanya Sloan asked surprised, as she saw Rocky DeSantos behind the counter of the Juice Bar, a spot normally occupied by the Youth Center's owner, Ernie.

Adam Park, sitting on the other side of the table, with Kat Hillard sitting middle, grinned at Tanya's surprised face. "Rocky's cooking Ernie's special shakes."

"Cooking?" Kat said, almost in shock. "Ernie's letting Rocky doing the cooking?" As she said this, her boyfriend (and fellow Zeo Ranger) Thomas Oliver walked in from the backroom in time to see the looks of surprise on his friends' faces and grinned.

"Ernie said he'd be gone for the day to take care of some paperwork," Tommy explained, purposely not hiding his amused tone, "so he asked Rocky to do some of the cooking in the kitchen." He turned to the Blue Ranger with a smirk. "Make sure you follow those recipes to the letter, man. I don't want to smell rotten tuna in my strawberry smoothie."

"Ha. Ha." Rocky said in mock annoyance. The others simply let out a couple of giggles.

A half-hour had passed and things were running smoothly. In the background, a slight rumbling sound could be heard. Glasses and plates were visibly shaken, but not by much. Soon, thunderous bangs were heard, storage containers and boxes fell to the floor, people were startled and screaming, and the emergency klaxon sounded, prompting everyone to leave the Youth Center immediately.

All but five teenagers, who stood around for a moment helping out with the evacuation until the Youth Center was empty. On cue, their communicators sounded a familiar six-tone sound and the Rangers rushed into the backroom. Tommy spoke into his wrist communicator. "What's going on, Zordon?"

"_Rangers,_" the sage spoke over the communicators, "_there's a disturbance in downtown Angel Grove, but the energy signature does not seem to originate from either the Machine Empire nor Rita and Zedd._"

"Someone new?" Adam suggested.

"I don't know, but it really doesn't matter." Tommy answered, looking out the door to ensure no one was around, "Let's do it. IT'S MORPHIN TIME!"

-o-

When the Zeo Rangers materialized on, they searched around the towns square to find people running away from various explosions that was occurring. The Rangers then found the source of the problem in the form of a tall stranger who just stood there, his (or her) black leather trench coat blowing in the wind. The body was completely covered in a stranger form of off-white wrappings and charcoal-colored shades covered what would be this stranger's eyes, but judging from the apparent shape of the face, this seems to be humanoid.

"Careful, Rangers." Zeo Red warned, "We don't know what this... thing is capable of."

The cloaked figure did not answer. Instead he or she pointed past the Red Zeo Ranger. Tommy didn't know what he meant, but he soon heard a faint hissing sound behind him. Tommy looked behind him at the other Rangers. One by one, they disappeared into nothingness. Where they end up, he doesn't know for sure. But the mysterious figure in the leather trench coat probably does.

"What did you do with them?" he barked, every word he spewed laced with anger, but this stranger... whatever he or she may be... simply stared, the face practically hidden by the wrappings and shade of his or her hat, much to the Red Zeo Ranger's annoyance.

Tommy drew his Zeo Pistol and aimed it straight at this stranger's head. "If you don't tell me," he threatened, "You're going to suffer!"

Again, the stranger was silent. No longer hesitant, Tommy fired a burst of laser beams at his target, but soon observed the beams dissipated before they even make contact with his coat. Tommy increased the power setting a notch more and fired several more shots. Again, the lasers soon phased out before they made contact. Tommy kept firing beams in desperation at this stranger, trying various settings and tactics, but all would produce the same result. Finally, Tommy decided for a close up attack, hoping for some kind of response... any kind of response from this stranger, who has done nothing but stand there.

Tommy pulled out his Zeo Sword and attempted to strike at the chest of his mysterious opponent, but soon the stranger broke out of his trance-like state and blocked Tommy's attack with a weapon of his own, following up with a kick to the stomach. For a second, Tommy was caught off-guard at the sight of the stranger's attack. It wasn't the fact that the stranger managed to counter quickly. It wasn't the fact that the stranger was playing possum and seemed stronger than before. What caught Tommy's eye was the weapon his opponent held. It was a weapon he was very familiar with. A weapon he had never thought in a long time he would ever see again. A weapon that haunted him.

The Dragon Dagger. The weapon of the Green Ranger.

_It can't be,_ Tommy thought in disbelief. _It's impossible._

The stranger raised the dagger to lips and played an all-too-familiar tune. Tommy, still in shock over the appearance of his old weapon, started to notice a rumbling sound from another site that is all too familiar to him. Soon enough, Tommy saw a giant metal monster rise from the oceans, but could not believe his eyes.

After years in slumber, the Dragonzord rises from the depths to do its master's bidding. Its master, however, was not Thomas Oliver...

-o-

Three standard-class Machine Skybases, the giant starbases that houses the Machine Empire's Quadrafighters and also serves as command vessels, loomed slowly towards the Machine capital on the moon, overshadowing most of the minor facilities that covered the moon. One skybase descended to the point of nearly touching one of the command towers. The other two kept their altitude.

Without hesitation, the main skybase fired bolts of green energy at the refineries, blowing them apart and causing various detonations throughout the city. From the lowest skybase, three squadrons of eight black Quadrafighters were launched, firing various beams and missiles at the industrial areas and waste plants. One of the ground bases managed to send several standard red Quadrafighters, but the fighters were quickly and effortlessly disposed of.

In the bridge of the main skybase, Cogs were shuffling from one station to the other while the main viewer showed random images of the Machine City under fire. In the center of the bridge sat a slender silver android; a robotic life form whose body was molded of a typical human male. Snapping his fingers, a gold-plated cog stood and bowed before the commander.

"Report, Captain?" the commander asked calm.

"No sign of Mondo, my liege." the Cog said, although he seemed to have a normal-sounding voice, not the robotic voice typical with Cogs. "We have already begun to fight his aerial defense."

The commander frowned, but his composure did not change. He casually surveyed the tactical overview of the moon base before addressing the Cog. "Resume the attack on the moonbase. Focus our firepower on the industrial facilities first, then go for the power stations."

"As you wish, Lord Aradon," the Cog bowed before returning to his post.

Pleased with the current happenings, Aradon watched ahead as his small battalion was slowly, but surely eliminating Mondo's Lunar city.

-o-

"After many months of being cramped in that putrid Winnebago, it's good to be home."

Lord Zedd walked into his old throne room with victory on his mind. The place seemed to have collected a little dust, but other than that, it was still in one piece. Even the giant fan in the background, the only source of illumination in the room, was still functional. All in all, it was well preserved despite not being occupied in the past year.

"Now," he spoke aloud, his voice echoing across the empty halls as he sat on his throne once more, "I begin my plans to strike at the heart of the Machine Empire."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Two

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

"What happened?"

The words spoken by Tanya Sloan echoed in the pitch-black room. Regaining consciousness after being plucked from the battle with a strange being, she noticed that there was no illumination at all, except for the outline of a door, which appeared to be oversized. Hearing Rocky groan as he got up made Tanya relieved that she wasn't alone. She also heard other footsteps, which she assumed came from the other two Rangers.

"Felt like we were teleported," Adam answered.

Kat looked around the room, but couldn't see anything since it was too dark. "But how did we get here?"

"It must have had something to do with that mummy in the trench coat." Rocky said, still a little dizzy. "It has to be."

Adam sighed heavily. "Let's just find a way out of h-." His words were cut off when he walked into a wall. Recoiling back a bit, Adam cursed. "Damn! You can't see anything here!"

"You alright, Adam?" Rocky asked. "I'd come over to check on you, but I don't want to slam into anything and break my nose." He couldn't help but let out a grin and because of the darkness that enveloped everyone, he didn't have to conceal it.

"Yeah," Adam answered, a small smile creeping up his face but soon faded, "By the way, my nose is just fine, Rocko. Let's just find a way out so we can escape, but take it a little slow."

Kat stiffened as she stared at the outline of the heavy door. "You're right, Adam," she said somewhat confidently, although it was evident in her that she wasn't sure, "We have to find a way out. I just hope Tommy's alright."

-o-

The last time Thomas Oliver saw the Dragonzord, it was under the control of a clone that had his old Green Ranger powers. After several battles, the clone came to his senses and stayed in the past while the Dragonzord would return to its slumber, where Tommy had figured he would never wake again. So it was understandable that he would be in shock and awe of the sight of his old zord.

This stranger, whoever he or she may be, has somehow managed to steal the Dragon Dagger, and Tommy couldn't quite figure out how long ago it's been missing, or how it could have been unnoticed by Zordon. Shaking the notion out of his head, he looked on as he saw the Dragonzord make its way to the downtown districted, with his new opponent floating behind his new prize.

"Red Battlezord!" he called as he thrust his right arm to the sky.

From the Zeo Holding Bay, the Red Battlezord was shot out of its launch cannon and landed near the zord. As soon as he saw the zord, Red Ranger jumped on board and took control. He then guided the Battlezord to meet with the Dragonzord. The feeling of dejavu... the poser Cyclops who was able to change into other zords... the Green Ranger clone, standing tall commanding his zord to fight off the White Tigerzord a couple years ago... Tommy's mind stirred with these thoughts. If it was a clone, he would have been able to accept the current situation.

"Once again, we meet, old friend." The words came out bitter.

The stranger looked on as the two massive machines stood facing each. It studied the sight for a moment, mostly out of interest and a slight bit of awe. Perhaps this new player was amazed by the sight before him or her. Nonetheless, the stranger took the Dragon Dagger and played a familiar tune. Tommy tightened his grip on the controls. This is it.

Dragonzord swung around and extended its tail drill, the tip narrowly hitting the Battlezord's chest armor. Battlezord attempted to make a quick tackle in order to take down the other zord, but the Dragonzord countered with a volley of concussion missiles. The volley was enough to knock down the Battlezord, its fall cushioned by a nearby abandoned building.

"You're tougher than before," Tommy grunted as he struggled to maintain stability of his Battlezord. "But I have to stop you."

With a few control movements, the Red Battlezord approached the Dragonzord and deliver many hard punches to Dragonzord's central plate. The punches that hit caused several sparks to fly off, but in effect, they did nothing. Dragonzord delivered a headbutt to the Battlezord, which knocked it back a couple feet. Battlezord attempted a tackle on Dragonzord and managed to latch on, but the Dragonzord's free arms enabled it to fire its missiles to drive away the Battlezord. The attack had pushed the Battlezord away and Dragonzord fired a couple more missiles to keep it distanced. Tommy seemed frustrated at the fact that an old zord is beating an advanced zord such as the Battlezord. Determined to win the battle, he attempted another strategy: the Battlezord took a couple steps closer to Dragonzord and locked the old zord in a bearhug hold, wrapping. Dragonzord, immobilized in this maneuver, struggled to free itself or use its missiles to drive away Tommy's zord as before, but could not.

"Good," Tommy said, a hint of regret in his voice. "Now's my chance."

The stranger wondered what was going on and soon noticed that the visor on the Red Battlezord was glowing dimly but slowly picking up intensity. Realizing that an up-close attack was eminent, the stranger extended its arm and fired a stream of energy at the leg of the Battlezord. The blast did not do much damage, but it was enough for the Battlezord to release its hold of the Dragonzord. The visor was still glowing, however, and a second later, a laser blasted from the visor and struck the Dragonzord, knocking it down but a building was crushed by the falling zord.

Tommy thought he had a chance to prepare to finish the battle, but was shocked by the rapid recovery of the Dragonzord. Even at that distance, the blast should have done enough damage. Tommy wanted to voice his disbelief, but went against it. He glanced down at the mysterious stranger who was controlling the zord.

"I don't know who you are and how you manage to get that dagger," Red Zeo shouted, "but you're going to regret ever attacking us!"

Tommy programmed a second charge, but this time he programmed the auxiliary batteries to add to the build-up of energy for a more powerful blast. Tommy understood that this could possibly deliver the killing blow to the Dragonzord, but would also drain most of the defensive units that gave the Battlezord damage resistance of energy. When the beam was fully charged, Tommy fired a beam at the Dragonzord, but before the beam could make contact, it vanished... not just the tip of the beam, but the stream of energy that followed. The Red Ranger looked on in disbelief.

"What?"

With the distraction provided, the stranger played another tune on the Dagger. Almost instantly, Dragonzord swung its mighty drill tail into the visor of Red Battlezord, shattering it completely and exposing the main cockpit where Tommy pulled away. Dragonzord's tail came by for another swing and hit the chest plate, causing it to explode and tear apart. A third and final successive tail whip attack knocked down the ravaged Battlezord.

Trying in vain to get the Battlezord on his feet again, Tommy tried every conceivable method to operate. Then he realized the mental link required to perform attacks had been compromised when he launched the second blast. After a moment of struggle, Battlezord manage to stand, although barely. A distraught Tommy looked into the eyes of his former zord. A zord he had forged a bond with during his days as the Green Ranger. Even after many zord and power changes, the Dragonzord was the one he commonly thought of once in a while. He felt a presence around this zord, which had faced destruction at every turn every battle it fought.

"I can't do it," he told himself, "I can't fight you anymore."

He waited for the killing blow. He waited for the zord to finish him off. He heard the wailing tune that he had been familiar with and closed his eyes to await his fate. The tune played again and Tommy heard the roar of the Dragonzord. A mighty roar that had strength. Tommy stood there, a tear running down his cheek, awaiting what was to come.

But nothing happened.

The stranger blew the tune through the Dragon Dagger and the Dragonzord turned and marched away slowly. The stranger below slowly faded out of sight, leaving nothing but dust and wind. When Tommy opened his eyes, he saw the Dragonzord slowly marching away. He felt a little relieved, but also a void of confusion clouded his mind.

_What happened_, Tommy thinks to himself, _Why didn't he attack?_

Before Tommy could think, a six-tone signal sounded through his communicator. A little hesitant at first, Tommy switched on the comm system of the Battlezord.

"Zordon?" Tommy spoke, his voice wandering.

"_Report to the Power Chamber, Red Ranger,_" Zordon spoke over the communicator, "_Your presence is urgently needed._"

No answer came. Tommy stared ahead at the Dragonzord as it slowly limped away. He stood there motionless and kept staring until his old zord was nothing more than a shadow.

"_Tommy?_" Zordon spoke again. "_It is imperative that you return._"

Tommy shook out of his trance. "Right, Zordon." Tommy answered, though he sounded somewhat dejected. "I'm on my way." Sitting back at the controls, he piloted the battered Battlezord back to the Power Chamber, careful not to step on any cars littered in the streets.

-o-

The skybase continued its volley of fire on the various factories below that have been part of Mondo's factory. In the bridge, Aradon looked on as his new black Quadrafighters took out most of the ground defenses as well as several power distribution units, rendering parts of the Machine base inoperable. It did not take long, however, for one of the hangar bays to launch several wave of their own classic red Quadrafighters to attack the intruders.

Five red fighters flew towards the main skybase and fired several shots, but none of them penetrated the strong pulse shields surrounding it. Before the flight group could go for another pass, they were instantly destroyed by the black fighter squadron, which had taken care of most of the fighters that were launched from the ground as well as some ground defenses.

"Lord Aradon," the Cog spoke, a voice that sounded more humanoid than mechanical, "our raid against Mondo's personal base is going well. Their fighters are antiquated, as our new polaron weapons are quickly making short work of them."

Aradon cocked an eyebrow. "And the royal family?" he asked, concerned.

"There appears to be no trace of them." the Cog commanded, taking a moment to look through his scanners, "I am detecting three skybases from the southern quadrant. Their schematics are also of inferior design."

Aradon let out a sigh, obviously disappointed by the turn of events. "I wouldn't be surprised if that excuse for a king was crawling back to Gorah Khan and left his pathetic slackers to man the fort." he groaned. He turned towards the Cog at tactical "Order our black fighter squadrons to attack the enemy bases. And inform our skybases to concentrate firepower on all power plants and industrial systems."

"Yes, Lord Aradon."

The skybase fired several volleys from the flaks guns to the factories just under them while several squadrons of quadrafighters plotted an attack run towards the other three skybases launched from below. Red fighters were launched from the ground and the bases and a heavy melee was fought, with Aradon's forces overwhelming Mondo's ships. Three black quadrafighters flew circles around one of the skybase, launching several missiles and firing polaron weapons at various spots of the base. After fifteen seconds of following this plan, parts of the skybase exploded and the fighters fled, leaving behind a capital ship that would soon collide to the surface and destroy itself, taking a good portion of the Machine city with it.

-o-

When Tommy materialized in the Power Chamber, the first thing he saw was Alpha 5, rampantly rushing from console to console. He turned to see the viewer, which showed images of the Dragonzord moving away from the city, smashing through buildings as if they were never there. Finally, he turned to Zordon, but couldn't talk. He couldn't come out and just wonder how the mentor of the Ranger team could not have known about this.

"_I know what you're thinking, Tommy,_" the sage said, his mood evident by his grim expression. "_I wish I had answers for you._"

Tommy frowned and dropped his head to the point where he would stare at the blinking lights and switches of the command console. "How could this happen, Zordon?" he asked, a hint of anger trailing in his voice, "How could this guy steal the Dragon Dagger?"

Zordon thought for a moment before answering. "_I do not know, Tommy. I do know that this enemy is more cunning than what we are used to. If he is able to steal the Dragon Dagger and capture the other Power Rangers, who knows what his full capability is._"

"Right," the Red Ranger answered, facing Zordon, "This is just tough to swallow."

Alpha approached Tommy and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. "I noticed something about his attack earlier. This stranger doesn't seem to be interested in random destruction."

The words spoken by the robot caused bewilderment to Tommy. "Huh?"

"From my scans," Alpha explained, "this 'person' attacked in an open area of the city. Outside of the Dragonzord smashing through some buildings, there wasn't any serious damage and the shots weren't aimed at anyone in particular. Nothing but intentional misses, and the shots that did hit caused only superficial damage and no much more." Alpha paused for a moment before continuing. "To my understanding, the attack was more to draw out the Rangers than it was the usual tactics we are accustomed to. If my scans are correct, our enemy will only attack when it is in his best interests."

Zordon frowned at the robot's last statement. "_You must be careful, Tommy. Even though he doesn't work for either Mondo or Zedd and do not share any of their agendas, one wrong move could prove fatal to both yourself and the rest of humanity._"

Tommy nodded in confirmation, but he had another concern. "What about the other Rangers?"

"_So far, my scans have proven negative,_" Zordon answered regrettably, "_If the Rangers have been taken to another dimension, it is evident that the dimension is not known to my databanks_."

"We'll need help then. And the only one I know who can help us is on another planet." The Red Ranger smiled at the thought and turned to Alpha 5. "Alpha, get in contact with Aquitar."

Alpha looked at Tommy in surprise, but turned towards the console. "Right, Tommy."

Tommy looked up to Zordon and the sage nodded. Both knew who this call was for.

-o-

An hour had passed since the four Zeo Rangers awoke to find themselves in the pitch black chamber that had served as their prison. During this time, Rocky and Adam hugged the walls for any cracks that may serve as an escape while Kat and Tanya attempted to find anything on the blast door that could be used to open from the inside. Unfortunately, their efforts produced no results.

"Whoever's holding us here knows about inescapable." Adam said, almost impressed. He soon noticed the heavy door slowly opening. When the door opened fully, the Rangers stood face to face with their jailors; two tall creatures composed of rocks. Their mannerisms and postures are similar to the old Putty Patrols that Rita used to have. Adam noticed that one of the putties had its left hand severed; in its place was a thick, double-edged blade at looks to be fifteen inches in length. The other putty had its right hand severed; replaced with a similar, but shorter blade. Both putties pointed their blades at the Rangers.

"Come with us, Rangers." One of them said. "Your presence is requested by Lord Zedd..."

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3

**POWER RANGERS ZEO****  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Three

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

"Your presence is requested by Lord Zedd." one of the soldiers said. "I suggest you come with us if you value your lives."

_Lord Zedd? _Adam thought. _Zedd's got us?_

The Rangers did as they were told and walked along with the two rock putties, who had their bladed hands positioned across Kat and Rocky's necks respectively. The walk took a while as they went through several dark hallways that almost seemed similar. Finally, after what seemed like five minutes of walking across, they reached a larger, dimlitted chamber. Kat recognized as the throne room of the palace, although she remembered it being a few floors higher than where they are now. The throne room seemed different to her; other than the giant fan in the back, it was not the same. The room had a solid, clean look to it, where as before it was dusty and crude.

On the throne, which was situated in the center of the room with a red light glowing over it, sat the master of the palace, Lord Zedd.

"Welcome, my friends." he greeted mockingly. He sounded almost cheerful, feeling equally as glad that he sees the Rangers' faces turn sour at the sight of him.

Kat's mouth opened, but she said nothing.

Rocky stepped forward ahead of the others to confront Zedd. "What are you up to this time, Zedd? Why did you bring us here" There was a tone of superiority in his voice and his body posture, something that Adam had never noticed in his friend's behavior before.

Zedd studied the Rangers a moment before "I had nothing to do with your being here." He paused to look at his human prisoners, who shared confused glances among each other. "Don't look too surprised, Rangers. I have other things on my mind than always trying to destroy you."

"You mean that monster isn't yours?" Kat asked, finding her voice.

Zedd waved his hand away. "Of course not. Although from what I've seen, it makes me wish it was." The fleshman paused to take a moment to stand up and approach the Rangers slowly. "It's almost funny. Here I am, putting my affairs in order as I plan to rid my moon of those infernal Machines. Without their leaders, they're not as competent a force as they usually are.

"Imagine my surprise when I find other Machines from their wretched excuse of a homeworld entering the vicinity and destroying Mondo's forces from the ground up. You should see the destruction that is occurring as we speak. And imagine my surprise when I realized that my rarely used cell down below had four life signs and they turned out to be..." Zedd tilted his head a bit before finishing. "You know the rest. So the question remains is what am I going to do with you?"

Tanya spoke. "I'm guessing letting us go is out of the question."

Zedd laughed. "That'd be too easy. I should probably return you to your cells and let you rot until your 'almighty' leader can mount a rescue. That is of course if he makes it back alive."

"What about Tommy?" Kat couldn't hold her worry in.

"Oh he's just fine, my dear." Zedd answered boldly, almost sounding as though he didn't care, "He has his problems but they are of no concern to you at the moment." He pointed to the two putties in the corner. "Take them back to their cell."

At that moment, the two putties pushed the Rangers out of the room and escorted them back to their cell. When they were out of plain view, Zedd walked towards the balcony and stared at the emerald planet. He let out a sigh as he focused his vision onto the structure of the Power Chamber, which used to house the Command Center before it was destroyed; something that Zedd had orchestrated last year. He soon turned away from the balcony and walked towards his chamber.

_I hope you do survive this test, Red Ranger._ he thought. _Because I want a piece of you soon._

-o-

Aquitian living chambers are a pain for a human to sleep in, but William Cranston managed to adapt rather well. For someone who had spent the better part of the past couple of years running around in blue spandex fighting evil space aliens, the former Blue Power Ranger didn't have much of a problem getting used to his new surroundings, but there were some things he couldn't deal with properly. He didn't really mind eating the food, which seemed to consist of various fish foods, and it didn't bother him couldn't sleep comfortably in the Aquitian beds, which had way too much bounce for his tastes.

So for the most part, he didn't get much sleep. Although for some reason, Billy didn't seem to need it. He figured some time ago that it could have been a result of the properties of the special formula that had been used to cure him of an aging process gone wrong; his Aquitian friend Cestro had mentioned side effects.

When the comm system started beeping and flashing a red light, Billy was conscious enough to walk over and check it out, wearing nothing more than blue pajamas. Reading the scan, he saw that the transmission was coming from Earth. Billy activated the comm system and saw a familiar face on screen.

"Tommy! It's been a while."

"Hey, man." Tommy greeted, "How're you doing?"

Billy couldn't help but grin widely. "Better than before. I'm able to do a lot of great stuff here and study more about Aquitian technology." He paused, looking back for a moment before turning to Tommy. "Although the beds are tough to get used to."

Tommy's smile quickly faded and was replaced with a worried look. "I hate to spoil your good time," the Red Ranger said, "but we need you back here."

Billy nodded, understanding what he meant. "No explanation need, Tommy. I'll be there as soon as I can."

The communication link was deactivated and Billy went back into his private chamber. He stepped into the nearby green tube-like chamber, pressed a few buttons, and stood as a beam of light-blue light enveloped him. When the light faded, his two-piece pajamas were replaced with a black turtleneck, blue jeans, and cowboy boots. Billy, studying his appearance, sighed.

_Cestro must have programmed the cowboy boots_, he thought.

"Billy?" A female voice from the bed, sounding a little sleepy. "What's going on?"

Billy nearly frowned. He didn't want to wake her for this. "Trouble at home, Cestria." he told her, "I have to go." He gently kissed her on the forehead and picked up the nearest bomber jacket he could find before stepping out of the room.

"Be careful." Cestria said, still sleepy.

But Billy was already gone.

-o-

The Aquitian spaceport was the only part of the underwater Aquitian city that included a tunnel to a small constructed island above the water which covered about ninety-nine percent of the whole planet surface. The island itself served as a launching pad for non-Aquitian vessels to land, as most of the Aquitian spacecraft were capable of both aquatic and interstellar travel. It didn't take long before William Cranston reached the main spaceport of Aquitar. Scanning the area quickly, he ran towards one of the Aquitians in a blue tech suit; an Aquitian who was also part of the planet's Ranger team.

"Cestro, I need a ship," Billy stated bluntly, "Trouble at home."

Cestro nodded, understanding his friend's desire to return home. "I have a ship ready for you, Billy."

Before Billy could reply on the Aquitian's resourcefulness and ability to plan ahead, he noticed a small glow in the corner of the bay. Cestro took notice of it too, as did a few other engineers. The glow started to slowly glow in brightness, with a couple of nearby works slowly moving away.

"What's that?" one of the engineers asked.

The glow started to pulsate stronger. Billy stared at it for a little longer before coming to the realization. The glow started building up energy and after a second, the energy flew towards the group. As soon as Billy realized what it was, he pushed Cestro aside and took the brunt of the energy blast. Cestro got up and saw the red blaze completely envelope Billy, as it reached the prepared ship and completely incinerated it in mere moments.

The blast, while only passing through the human boy for a second, seemed to last an entire lifetime. He called for his name, but got no response. When the beam faded, all that remained was Billy, few tattered cloth pieces around his naked body, crashing to the hard marble floor. The alien approached to check on his friend, but he couldn't find a pulse.

"Medic!" he cried in his native tongue, "Get me a god-damned medic!"

-o-

From the bridge of his skybase, Lord Aradon proceeded to look on as the assault on Mondo's city continued. He seemed less than impressed with his adversary's forces, who have yet to take down one of his fighters or the ground forces he had ordered to strike below. He knew that the battle would be an easy one, but didn't figure that it would a one-sided battle. Despite this, he is satisfied with the damage that he is delivering to Mondo's forces.

"Lord Aradon, sir," the Cog at Communications called out, "we're getting a coded signal from the homeworld."

Aradon stiffened. "On screen."

The screen shifted to an almost pitch-black screen. The only noticeable thing was a silhouette of an android's head overlapping the gear insignia of the Machine Empire. The head had two stems sticking out that would look like antennae. The body, or what was visible, seemed round-shaped.

"Colonel," Aradon greeted, balancing his tone between cheerfulness and formality rather well, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this communication?"

The shadowed droid hesitated to answer at first, but spoke in a low voice. "Mondo is not here, Lord Aradon."

"Really?" Aradon was almost surprised to hear this. "I had expected Mondo to crawl back to his throne by now, considering the damage we're doing to his forces."

"What's more," he continued, "his transponder is not active. Something must have happened."

"The Power Rangers must have taken care of him." the commander said, "Such a feat would make our efforts easier."

The droid held a finger up and turned his head away from the viewer. Aradon couldn't quite see the expression of the colonel's face because of the screen's darkened state. Soon enough, the colonel turned back to Aradon. "In any case," he said, "The council told me to inform you that you must find him and bring him back to Gorah Khan. Alive if possible, although unofficially we prefer him dead."

"Of course." Aradon answered, a smile creeping on his face. The image of the colonel was replaced with the green tinted emblem of the Machine Empire. A grin grew across the Machine lord's face as he turned towards his artillery officer.

"Take the chair. I'm going to my quarters."

"Of course, my lord." the Cog walked up to Aradon's chair and sat while the lord left the bridge and into his private chambers.

-o-

Alpha tried desperately to stabilize the already weakening signal being sent from Aquitar. When he had succeed in establishing a connection, the viewer (barely) showed the face of an Aquitian woman with long hair, a face familiar to those present as the leader of Aquitar's Rangers. However, Tommy noticed concern on her face and the fact she did not answer immediately after a connection was established got to him too.

"Delphine?" the Red Ranger spoke, "What's wrong? Where's Billy?"

Delphine answered hesitantly. "Billy has been injured."

Tommy looked on in shock. "Injured?" he asked, almost stuttering, "How?"

Delphine shook her head. "We don't how it happened, but he was hit with an intense red blast that appeared out of nowhere."

Tommy froze in place. He thought back to the fight with the Dragonzord and remembered the Battlezord's beam that vanished. Somehow, this mysterious new enemy had displaced the beam to hit Billy, even in a far away place as Aquitar. Whether it was a completely random occurrence or it was an intentional strategy, he didn't know for sure, but he knew it had to do with this wrapped stranger.

"He is in critical condition." she said sorrowfully, "But according to the initial scans, it doesn't seem life-threatening."

"_Do you need anything?_" Zordon asked calmly.

Delphine shook her head. "No. We believe we can care for Billy."

"_Thank you,_" the sage said, "_and good luck._"

The Aquitian Ranger leader nodded and the communication link terminated shortly after. Tommy let out a hard breath. "The bastard's good, Zordon." he admitted bitterly, "He knew we needed Billy's help and managed that beam to appear where he was."

"_If what you say is true, then we have a problem._" Zordon suggested, "_If he is able to beam your zord's attack to Aquitar, who knows where he could have brought the Rangers?_"

-o-

An hour passed since the Rangers' meeting in Lord Zedd. An hour which was spent in the familiar pitch-black holding cell. Kat continued to feel the walls with her hands, trying to find a means of escape. Adam stood close to the heavy door, searching for any crack or gap that could be used to budge the door open. Unfortunately, neither one had much luck. Tanya sat in a corner, too depressed to do anything productive, while Rocky stood in the middle, not wanting to do anything stupid.

Suddenly, Rocky's eyes widened. "Guys, I just thought of something."

"What?" Tanya groaned, almost agitated.

"Why didn't we morph to get out?" the Blue Ranger asked, a hint of humor creeping through his voice.

Tanya slumped her head in embarrassment and Adam covered his face with his hands groaning. The idea of morphing had never occurred to them. A moment of silence passed before Kat smiled and answered, "You're right. Let's do it."

Each Ranger did their respective calls and soon the four teenagers were enveloped in colored light, subsequently replaced with their morphed Ranger states. Not only did they get the morph through without fail, but the commotion attracted the attention of the guard outside, who opened the heavy door to see what was going on. As soon as he was within eyesight, the Rangers ambushed him and swiftly knocked him out. Adam dragged the guard to the corner of the room as the others left. When all four left, Rocky slammed the door shut.

"Great! We're free!" Rocky called out triumphantly before his tone grew grave. "Now let's get out of here."

In unison, the Rangers left their prison cell and the jailkeeper behind and began their search for a way out.

-o-

"It's him, isn't it?" Tommy asked angrily as the alert klaxons blared loudly in the Power Chamber. He turned to Alpha 5, who was working the scanning equipment. "Where is he?"

Alpha scanned for a moment and answered, "He's at your brother's reservation."

Tommy's stance almost froze when Alpha mention the reservation where his brother David was at. After a brief pause, he immediately grabbed the helmet nearby and proceeded to teleport, determined.

"_Be careful, Tommy._" Zordon warned, "_Do whatever you can to stop this being, but if the enemy gets the better of you, we will force teleport you back here to safety._"

"Understood." Tommy nodded and teleported out of the Power Chamber to the reservation site where his enemy would await him... and prayed no one got hurt in the process.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Four

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

When he materialized in the middle of the reservation, the Red Zeo Ranger studied the surroundings. Other than a couple of people running in fear, the village was completely deserted, but the enemy wasn't there and there were no explosions heard in the background. In fact, the village and surrounding area appeared to be intact. Of the many people fleeing, the only person he recognized was his brother David, who was slowly limping towards a tent.

"Bro," the Red Ranger called as he approached the teen, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," David answered, managing a smile, "I'm fine. Just tripped over a rock."

Tommy surveyed the area for a moment and turned back to face David. "He didn't attack?"

David shook his head. "He simply stood there and fired shots in the sky. Scared everyone into hiding, but he didn't hurt anyone."

The Red Ranger sighed, both in relief and frustration. "Something's going on here, Dave." he said, "I need you to keep an eye out on things here, but stay out of sight. I don't want you being the hero."

David nodded. "Good luck, bro."

"You too."

With that, the two brothers went their own separate ways. Tommy looked on for a while until David was out of sight. Confident that his brother would be fine, he began his search for the stranger.

-o-

The stranger roamed around a rock quarry. For a moment, he felt bored and wanted to do something. However, patience is something that he had much practice with the past year, the year he had kept in hiding. He would wait for his opponent to arrive and then he would give him a much needed lesson in humility.

He pulled out the dagger, the weapon from which he had managed to steal when the opportunity presented itself. He took a moment to study the weapon, which had seen little use for the better part of these years. Although it didn't surprise him that its magically properties had protected it from corrosion, he couldn't help but be in awe of its splendor. None of his previous arms were this well constructed, nor did they have the power that this mere knife possessed. The ability to control a battle zord without putting one's self at risk was not something to sneeze at. Even mental control mastered by the Aquitians did not match the efficiency that this dagger did.

After a moment of reflection, the stranger put away the dagger and looked on at the mountains, as he waited.

-o-

The rock putty general entered the chamber of Lord Zedd. In the center of view was Zedd, who was kneeling before a mini shrine, which consisted of two statues of serpent beasts and in between the two stood a marble statue of a three-headed dragon hugging a human figure of medium build and height wearing Zedd's mask.

Zedd slowly stood up and noticed the putty at the door. "What is it?"

"The Zeo Rangers, Lord Zedd." the general said calmly, "They're loose in the palace."

"I'm well aware of that," the fleshman replied, uncharacteristically calm, "Send a couple of your troops after them."

The rock Putty nodded and walked out of Zedd's chamber. From the other side of the room emerged Rita Repulsa, who had overheard the conversation in the smaller bedroom and noticed Zedd's apparent ease of the situation. This is something she didn't understand, as Zedd would usually be fuming (or at least be very angry) about such matters.

"Something you'd like to share with me?" she asked, almost sounding like an interrogator.

"For the moment, no," Zedd answered calmly, "Nothing for you to be concerned about."

Almost angered by Zedd's response, along with the fact that she had nothing to do with the Rangers' presence here, Rita studied Zedd for a moment, wondering what he is thinking. Of course, she has a way of knowing Zedd's thoughts despite the fact his face is hidden behind a mask. But today, she couldn't read his mind as well as she could before. She noticed a different aura around Zedd, something she hadn't seen since she had first served with him all those eons ago.

"What's the deal, Zeddie?" she asked, "Why are you feeling fine about Rangers amok in the palace?"

"Just a means to an end, dear" was the fleshman's only reply before leaving the chamber. Rita took one last glance at her husband before shrugging off any strange feelings and returning to bed.

-o-

"Lord Aradon," the Cog weapons officer called from his post on the bridge, "our forces have managed to destroy the main shield grid of Mondo's machine palace."

Aradon clasped his hands together in triumph. "Excellent. Commence the attack." He soon turned to find another gold-skinned Cog running up to him. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes sir," the Cog answered, sounding almost excited, "it's a small mass of parts that seem to fit with the specifications of Mondo and his Royal Family."

Aradon slowly stood from his chair and walked towards the Cog. He leaned his head closer as to whisper in the messenger's ear. "Are you absolutely certain?"

The Cog nodded in confirmation. "Positive, my Lord. I've triple-checked the scans myself and they match both in material composition and radiation output. It is them."

A small smile crept up the Machine lord's face. He would not only claim Mondo, but he would claim the Machine King and his family in pieces, where they will put up little or no resistance. This made him happy, as he doesn't have to struggle to get the fat bastard to come along. Snapping out of his momentary trance, he slowly returned to his chair and clasped his hands together.

"Send a team to recover the parts." he ordered, his voice showing no emotion, "If any resistance is met, deal with it by any means you see fit."

"Aye, sir." The Cog replied before bowing to Aradon and returning to his post.

Aradon pointed to the comm officer in the back. "Command our forces to concentrate all firepower on the palace. If we're going to drag that bucket of bolts back to Gorah Khan, we need to make sure his base is unable to send troops after us."

-o-

Tommy teleported in the quarry and saw the stranger stand there. Without hesitation, he ran as fast as human limitation would allow him and pulled out his Zeo Pistol, firing several warning shots. None of them hit; in fact, the shots were low enough that they merely impacted the dirt on the ground. However, the shots did gave the stranger warning and almost instantly, he turned and face the Red Ranger. That did not deter Tommy from firing several more rounds from his pistol, this time at the stranger. The stranger raised his left hand and just as before, the laser bolts that were fired from the Zeo Pistol vanished almost as quickly as they were shot. This caused Tommy to stop and slowly back away. When the stranger noticed this, he clenched his fist closed and soon his body began to glow a dim red.

Before Tommy could react, slight explosions occurred on his back, causing him to recoil forward. When he turned to find out what was causing it, he realized it too late. His gunblasts, the ones that he fired at the stranger but disappeared, had re-appeared to hit the one who shot them to begin with. Several hits to the chest and head later, the Red Ranger crumbled to the ground in pain.

_Damn_, he thought, _I forgot he could do that_.

Slowly getting up, Tommy struggled to gain back his strength to stand. When he did stand fully, he was met with a hard roundhouse kick to the head that knocked down Tommy again. Tommy coughed and felt a slight hint of blood from his lower lip. Getting back on his knees, Tommy looked up at the stranger who had just pulled out the Dragon Dagger from his coat. The stranger held the dagger firmly with both hands over his head. Out of sheer desperation and nothing more, Tommy landed a hard right uppercut to his enemy's groin. The stranger staggered back in pain, still gripping on to the dagger.

Behind the helmet, Tommy smiled. Pulling out his Blaster, Tommy fired a low-level shot at the stranger's chest. To his semi-surprise, the shot actually hit and the stranger recoiled a bit, although his grip of the Dagger was still strong. Tommy raised the energy level up and fired another shot. Scoring another hit to the chest that startled the stranger, the Red Ranger continued his attack; firing one shot and raising the level a bit before he fired again. Each hit scored, the stranger backing up in surprise, but his grip on the dagger was still firm. Finally, Tommy's blaster had reached maximum power and he let out several shots.

All hit the stranger in the chest area and after a few more hits, the stranger was finally lifted off his feet and landed on his back.

Breathing heavily, Tommy clutched on to his chest and dropped to one knee. He felt tired, but relieved that the battle is over. However, his relief faded to disbelief when he saw that the stranger slowly stood back up... with the Dragon Dagger still firmly in his hand.

"What the hell is this?" Tommy said, not believing what he is seeing.

The stranger reached for something in his pocket and pulled out a longer sword.

Tommy thought it was the Sword of Darkness, another old weapon he had used when he served as Rita's Green Ranger, but whereas that sword had a slightly curved white blade, this sword had a crooked blade made of black metal. Tommy went into a fighting stance, momentarily blocking off the pain that overwhelmed him. However, a slash across the chest forced the Red Ranger on his knees, his arms wrapping the cut area. Tommy felt immobile and helpless as the stranger extended his sword with both hands over Tommy's head. After a brief moment, the stranger began the downward stab.

But before the attack could make contact, the Red Ranger was enveloped in red light and vanished. The stranger was confused, but raised his hand and made his beams disappear.

-o-

Mondo's machine Palace stood high and tall amist a colony of burning wreckage and explosions. It was the only thing that stood between Aradon's forces and complete destruction of Mondo's colony. From the lower hangars, a dozen quadrafighters spewed forth, valiantly attempting to fend off against the more aggressive and more numerous forces of Lord Aradon. However, the black-colored quadrafighters and three stealth fighters were much too powerful for the technically obsolete quadrafighters that had served Mondo well in the past.

"Locking on polaron disruptors on target, Commander." the lead pilot transmitted, "We're going in."

The first three-fighter group fell in and managed to take out some of the palace's weapons platforms with a few quick hits. The second group, consisting of four fighters, attacked the power generators around the palace. Each generator's destruction resulted in a fierce explosion that took out a good piece of the massive structure. After a significant amount of damage was done, the two flight groups pulled away, the once mighty palace that served as the centerpiece of this colony a molting ruin.

"Lord Aradon," the lead pilot spoke through the transmitter proudly, "Mondo's palace is weakened. Give the genius behind this new weapon a promotion ASAP."

"_Good work, pilots._" Aradon responded, "_Fall back. We'll take care of the rest._"

The Quadrafighter squadrons distanced themselves from the palace as the lead skybase slowly flew over the flaming pride of Mondo's colony, awaiting to deliver the final blow.

-o-

Kat was depressed. It was bad enough for her not to remember her way around the palace in order to lead the other Rangers to an escape route, but all the hallways of the palace, despite having a unique aura, seemed mind-bogglingly similar to each other. For the past hour, she tried most routes that were opened and the least guarded, but they all lead to a dead end.

"This is hopeless." Kat complained.

"Wait a minute." Tanya said, stopping all the Rangers.

Adam approached Tanya. "What is it?"

"Do you hear that buzzing sound?" she asked.

The buzzing grew louder and soon red flashes of light occurred, momentarily blinding the Rangers. An instant after the red flashes faded, the Rangers found themselves facing five rock putties, similar to the ones before, each one accompanied with two of Zedd's traditional Z-Putties; the white vested putties with the giant "Z" plate. All four Rangers went into defensive stances.

"Just what we don't need." Kat moaned.

"Remember, guys," Rocky called out, "hit the white ones in their 'Z' plates."

Kat managed to fend off the white putties easily, but the bigger Rock Putty shrugged off her various kicks. Agitated, she pulled out her pistol and fired a couple of shots, which was enough to stun the rock putty for a short while. Boosting the power on her pistol, she fired two shots onto the putty's leg and drove her foot onto the monster's knee, following that attack up with two quick jabs to chest. The final blows forced the putty to retreat.

A few kicks were all Adam needed to eliminate the two flaking white putties and focus on the rock creature. The rock putty managed a lucky hit to Adam's chest, which momentarily stunned him. Adam was able to recover quickly with a spinning heel kick across the creature's head. There was enough momentum in the kick to send the creature towards the one fighting Tanya and through sheer chance, the creature's blade pierced through the other's chest, killing him instantly. This left Tanya with the two white Putties to fight, but not much longer, as the Yellow Ranger managed to defeat them easily with a couple of lucky punches.

The two remaining Rock Putties cornered Rocky, but the Blue Ranger managed to dodge their attacks and roll past them. Pulling out his Pistol, he fired several shots. The shots stunned them, but did no damage, forcing Rocky to increase the pistol's setting. The Rock Putty on the left started to fell pain from the various shots from Rocky's pistol. Noticing this, the Ranger concentrated his firepower on the weaker monster. Eventually several shots destroyed the creature. His partner was soon eliminated the same way.

The four Rangers gathered to surround the remaining rock putty. The putty, knowing he was the only one left, crossed his arms and began to glow. A second later, the single putty quickly multiplied into two. Those two began to multiple into two and the cycle continued. It wasn't long before the Rangers found themselves surrounded by putties that were reproducing at an incredible rate. Just as they manage to clear half the room, twice as much take their place. Rocky tries to fight off the advancing putties, but they prove to be too much for him. Adam's every move is blocked and countered. And neither Kat nor Tanya have any success landing a blow.

"There's too many of them!" Rocky called out, "We need help!"

As if on cue, lightning strikes on the various putties, incinerating them almost instantly. The room soon cleared up and the Rangers were easily able to clear out the rest of the putties with relative ease. When the last putties was destroyed, the Rangers cheered, but soon beams of energy pass through them and their Ranger forms dissipated, demorphing the teens back to their normal state. They all turned to face the door which served as their ticket to escape and stood in surprise as they saw Lord Zedd holding a strange blaster pistol in one hand and a jagged sword in the other.

"You play a good game, Rangers." he said, his tone void of emotion, "but the game is over."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Five

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

The four Zeo Rangers, demorphed through means unknown, stared as they stood before Lord Zedd, who was blocking the door they were going to use to escape. Zedd made the rather bulky blaster he had in his hand disappear and in its place slowly formed a small but growing ball of red and blue energy. Once it reached palm sized, Zedd thrust his hand out, sending the energy bolt hurling towards the Rangers, who seemed almost startled.

"Run!" Rocky called out. And the Rangers did just that, running through the other door that wasn't blocked by Zedd. Zedd's power bolt missed its targets, hitting the side of the door. Disappointed, Zedd thought of giving chase, but decided against it. As far as he was concerned, the whole palace is on full alert and the Rangers wouldn't have a place to hide. So he simply snorted and left the room, closing the door behind him. Standing before him was the winged warrior Goldar.

"The Rangers are rampant throughout the castle, Goldar." he said, "What are you doing standing around here wasting time?"

Goldar noticed the tone of nervousness in Zedd's voice. Knowing that, he didn't hesitate to answer the fleshman's question. "There is an assault on Mondo's colony station."

Zedd paused and thought for a moment before answering. "You came to tell me this? I know about that already."

"A Cog commander is requesting an audience with you. Claims to represent Lord Aradon."

_Aradon._ he realized, _Mondo's arch rival to the leadership._

Behind the metal mask of Lord Zedd, a wide grin formed. He hadn't expected this, but it is a welcomed diversion.

"Take me to him, Goldar."

-o-

He felt a chill all over his body as he regained consciousness. He felt out of breath, but didn't have any pain. That was against his expectations, because he could clearly remember getting hit with a major blast of energy. Of course, the fact that he was still alive also went against his expectations, as he believed the blast should have killed him. In any case, he was relieved. After a moment, his eyes opened slowly, briefly squinting in reaction to the bright white light that befallen him.

"I'm awake," he said weakly, "You may deactivate the recuperate drive."

Almost immediately, the light went off, leaving only the illuminating glows of the ocean windows. His eyes having properly adjusted to standard lighting, he lifted himself to a sitting position and looked around. He found himself in a small room with the usual Aquitian properties as well as a couple of light projectors on each wall.

"Looks like a complete success, Cestro." he heard someone say, presumably the surgeon, "Your friend is as good as new."

William Cranston looked over himself and noticed that his skin was perfectly healthy. He couldn't find any oddities or wounds, which almost surprised him considering he received the brunt of a powerful blast. On the other hand, he had heard many good things about this experimental 'recuperate drive' system that managed to repair even the most severe of wounds.

Finally, the surgeon turned to Billy. "How are you feeling, sir?"

"I feel fine, thanks." he answered. "But I am concerned over any potential side-effects."

The surgeon paused for a moment, but Cestro stepped in to answer. "The Recuperate Drive has always had side-effects among our people, but since your human physiology is different from ours, we can't be too certain. At most, you will probably have a headache, but you should be fine."

Billy smiled. "Great, so I can get back to my friends."

"I would advise against it." the doctor warned. "Your body needs time to regain its strength."

"They need me." Billy countered.

It took a second before Cestro spoke hesitantly. "We have an unmarked fighter in the hangar bay. It should take you to your world in a short time."

Billy nodded and stood on the cold floor. At first, he took a couple of steps, but as he felt more comfortable, he picked up a bit of speed and headed towards a small capsule chamber. Once he stepped in, the capsule flashed momentarily and soon Billy found himself wearing a gray flannel shirt, white tank top, and blue jeans. Billy sighed a breath of relief before stepping out of the capsule and headed towards the hangar bay.

-o-

Zedd entered the throne room where he noticed a rather bulkier version of the typical Cog footsoldier donning a red cape and an Earth army general's hat, presumably the Cog commander that Goldar had spoken of, peering out the balcony. When the commander noticed the fleshman's presence, he turned to face him.

"Lord Zedd, I presume." His voice sounded natural, but bore not emotion.

Zedd nodded. "No Cog outside of Aradon's army has a normal voice. So I will assume you work for Aradon."

"Correct," the Cog answered, confirming Zedd's thoughts.

"I am rather quite busy at the moment," Zedd said, brushing his hand towards the two putties in the back, sending them away, "I have Power Rangers running amok in my palace and an unknown element on Earth that I would like to keep track of."

The Cog merely stood his ground. "My commander have no need of an extended dialogue with you, sir." he said, "You have your scenarios as do my commander. However, my commander wishes for a piece of information that only you know."

Zedd twitched his head slightly. _What could Aradon want from _me _of all evil beings?_

"The remains of the royal house of gadgetry." the Cog elaborated, "Where are they?"

"Oh right. That." Zedd said, the disappointment in his voice evident. He took a short walk towards the balcony overseeing Earth and most of the moon surface. It took a moment before he answered. "Since I'm in such a uncharacteristically good mood today, I'll give you what you want and even go as far as let you live and leave. The remains are about 5 meta-kliks north-west of this palace. I'm sure you'll find your way."

The Cog bowed his head. "Lord Aradon appreciates your help, Lord Zedd." he said. He turned towards the exit and began to walk away.

"Make no mistake, Cog." the fleshman called as the Cog continued towards the door, "I'm not helping your master. I'm ridding myself of the wretched Machine monarchy that have delayed my plans of dominance."

_Indeed_, the Cog thought, but elected not to answer. He merely left the room, leaving Zedd alone.

-o-

"We just got word from Aquitar while you were gone." Alpha said as Tommy walked into the Power Chamber. "Billy's fully healed and is on his way."

Tommy couldn't help but be surprised. "That fast?"

"_Aquitians have advanced technology which enable them to treat wounds much more quickly._" Zordon said, "_With Billy healed and on his way, we can concentrate on the situation at hand._"

As soon as Zordon finished speaking, the warning klaxon sounded loudly and the alarm lights blared brightly. Tommy looked towards the viewing globe as Alpha went through the consoles and operated the scanning equipment. After a second, Alpha looked up to the others.

"The Dragonzord's attacking again." he said, panicked.

"Where?" the Ranger asked.

Almost suddenly, Tommy got his answer, as the entire wall with the Ranger Gallery suddenly exploded, pieces of debris and heavy metal bars flying all over the place. Alpha managed to dodge a couple of smaller pieces, but would be decapitated with a bigger piece. Tommy dodged most of the flying debris, save for a couple of small rocks in which he managed to knock away with a couple of roundhouses. While the debris weren't able to shatter Zordon's transmission tube, one of the pieces did hit the master energy converters close to him, which shut off all the main lights and activated the blue emergency lights. When the rumbling stopped, Tommy approached for one of the consoles and activate the fire systems to control some of the fires here and there. He turned towards what was left of the Ranger Gallery, where he saw a strangely familiar silhouette.

"It's outside." he mumbled angrily, "He's firing at the Power Chamber!"

Plucking his helmet from the ground and placing it over his head, Tommy ran out out of the Power Chamber and made his way up the steps until he reached the main floor, which was where the Command Center room used to be, but is now blocked off by an impenetrable blast wall. However, when he finally ran out of the structure, he saw that there was no one there, nor was there any sign of the Dragonzord.

"This is starting to piss me off!" Tommy said angrily as he stormed back into the Chamber below. "We need to do something about this guy before he goes too far."

-o-

It took five minutes for the massive Machine skybase to land on the barren surface of the moon, the "directions" that Zedd had referred to. Almost a minute after contact was made, the surface was soon filled with Cog search teams, scouring the surface with scanners and special radar equipment. It took all of two minutes for the entire ship's worth of search teams to pour out, thus enabling them to cover more terrain at a much quicker speed.

"Commander!" one of them called, "I found them!"

The Cog Commander, the one that had met Zedd earlier, approached the source of the call, a silver-plated Cog digger who was standing next to several piles of robot parts and metal pieces. The soldier stepped aside and allowed the commander to inspect the heaps of metal parts before turning to the soldier.

"Is everything there?" he asked.

"Yes, Commander." the Cog soldier answered proudly (or rather as proud as a Cog Soldier could be capable of), "every piece and bolt has been accounted for."

The commander nodded his approval. "Lord Aradon wants the king to be rebuilt as soon as we clear orbit. From the brig."

"Yes sir." the Cog soldier said, almost sounding pleased. With that, he returned to his troops and assisted with the collection of parts.

-o-

The alien fighter was nothing like the Aquitian shuttlepod that Billy flew the last time he went on a return trip to Earth. The controls were somewhat similar to a typical Terran fighter jet and even had some of the same mechanisms. The similarities ended there, as Billy was also able to get accustomed to the new jump drive that was capable of sending the ship at high velocities without use of warp tunnels or wormholes. Billy's moment of amazement ended when the jump drive shut down and the fighter was running on normal speed. That's when Billy realized he's home.

Using specialized stealth equipment to prevent any orbiting satellites from detecting his arrival, Billy plotted a course for the Power Chamber at the fighter's top speed. When the chamber was in plain sight, Billy noticed a smoke cloud emanating from it and was worried. Soon enough, he landed his fighter on the ground, no more than three miles from the Power Chamber as to keep from any enemies noticing him. Billy wasn't worried about the hike.

It took Billy no more than five minutes to reach the front door of the outer Command Center structure. It took a minute of overcoming nostalgia for Billy to enter the structure. When Billy reached the entryway to the Power Chamber, he couldn't believe the damage that was done. He turned his attention towards the Red Ranger, who had noticed him just now.

"Wow." Billy gasped. "What happened here?"

"Lots of stuff, man." Tommy said embarrassingly, "Maybe I should fill you in."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
****SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Six

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

Thomas Oliver studied the damage done to the Power Chamber. For the most part, the place was still operating, albeit a disaster area with rubble scattered about and hanging wires barely keeping from falling. Just as he was about say naughty words, he turned to see his friend, William Cranston, in awe of the current surroundings.

"Wow." the former Ranger gasped. "What happened here?"

"Lots of stuff, man." Tommy said, "Maybe I should fill you in."

He began explaining about their last battle with Mondo's Machine Empire and his subsequent non-presence. He brought up the strange being who had somehow teleported the other Zeo Rangers to parts unknown and somehow managed to acquire the Dragon Dagger, subsequently gaining control of the long-dormant Dragonzord. He began explaining about the two battles he's had with this new enemy as well as the recent ambush which had resulted in the current state of the Power Chamber.

When Tommy was done, Billy took a moment to digest everything he had heard before speaking. "I'll see what I can do, but first we need to assess the damage done."

-o-

Aradon watched in the holding bay as various Cog soldiers worked feverishly on re-assembling the pieces of king Mondo back into operating form. Even at his Cog's advanced speed, Aradon knew it would take an Earth hour before he can taunt his rival. Satisfied at what has transpired, he left the room and proceeded towards the bridge. When he got there, he made a glance at the giant viewscreen, which showed various skybases attacking the Machine colony in the background. On the forefront was Mondo's own palace; the heart of the entire colony. He immediately approached the weapons officer closest to him and whispered in his 'ear'.

"Launch a couple of concussion torpedoes at the lower section of the power generators. That should take out the shield of the tower. Once that's done, do as you please and then set a course for the homeworld."

"Yes, sir." the weapons officer answered, almost sounding delighted.

From the skybase, two orange bolts launched towards the large cylindrical structures, shattering and imploding upon immediate contact. At the same time, the orange energy field that surrounded Mondo's castle and the surrounding towers had quickly disintegrated. Fifty squadrons of black quadrafighters (with roughly five ships per squadron) poured from the various skybases and began to chip away at the various structures and ground defenses below. Any other black fighters that were previously launched converged with the new group to concentrate their attacks at the central hub of the colony. Various red fighters, the ones loyal to Mondo, launched from the hangar bays of the castle to confront Aradon's forces, but they were quickly disposed in due time by the more advanced black fighters. More fighters continued to be launched from the ground hangars and soon there was enough for the black fighters to detour from taking out the towers and fighting the red fighters.

While this was going on, the chief skybase commanded by Aradon fired its torpedoes and polaron cannons at the castle, obliterating it completely. Various pieces of debris fell from the structure and crashed onto the ground, taking several quadrafighters that just so happen to have gotten in the way. The other skybases followed suit, firing various torpedoes and weapons at other ground targets, including several departing skybases from below. The battle progressed for an hour until Mondo's Machine colony was completely destroyed and the last red quadrafighter was blown to pieces.

The Machine armada led by Aradon promptly left behind the burning wreckage of mass and metal that was once the lunar colony of Mondo and proceeded home with their claimed prize.

-o-

"It's hopeless. We'll never find a way out if we keep walking in circles."

The words from Tanya Sloan stopped the Rangers dead in their tracks, but none of them had a response. Adam simply looked up at the ceiling and sighed heavily, Rocky was disturbingly silent, and Kat seemed defeated. Since their meeting with Lord Zedd, the Zeo Rangers had seemingly gone through every corridor, every stairway, and every junction within the palace, but all this time they were never able to find anything remotely resembling an exit.

"Check your Zeonisers." Kat said.

"Nothing," Rocky said after checking his. "My morpher's dead."

"It's still malfunctioning." Adam said, noticing the blinking lights on his Zeoniser, "I don't what Zedd shot us with, but it's preventing me from accessing the morph matrix."

Rocky's fist clenched firmly and instinctively, he slammed it against the wall closest to him as hard as he could, making a slight crack on the wall but nothing more. The pain caused by bone meeting concrete didn't bother Rocky, although he certainly did feel it.

"You okay, man?"

"Yeah. This thing's getting to me." He turned to Katherine. "Do you remember anything around here, Kat?"

Kat shook her head. "Very little. And what little I do remember isn't much help. The palace tends to change shape every now and then. Outside it looks the same, but the hallways and chambers situated here are always shifting. Not one visit to this place is ever the same."

"I hate to break your tangent, Kat," Tanya interrupted, "but that's not helping."

Kat nodded. "Right. Let's keep going."

-o-

Two hours had passed since Billy's arrival. In that short span of time, the Power Chamber was slowly regaining form thanks to the Chamber regenerator that had been used to reassemble the outer Command Center shell. Tommy immediately noticed the changes in form to this new Power chamber. In place of the Ranger Gallery were five colored tubes, the chamber itself had seemingly gotten a bit wider, and the illumination is a little brighter than it had been previously. All in all, Tommy seemed impressed by the restructuring of the chamber.

"Well," Billy said proudly, "The Power Chamber's back in one piece, even though most of it still doesn't work."

"Worry about it later, man." Tommy said. "Right now, we need to focus on more important matters."

"We can't find the other Rangers while the scanners are dead," Billy said, "but I might have an idea on how to deal with the current dilemma."

Tommy nodded in agreement. "Any ideas, Billy?"

"Whoever this guy is," Billy pointed out, "he seems to be under the assumption that you're the only one left for him to battle. If the Battlezord is piloted by someone else while you try to ambush him from behind without detecting your presence, he wouldn't know until you meet him face-to-face. It's not much, but he could be distracted by your sudden appearance, which could give you an opportunity to steal back the Dragon Dagger if possible, or destroy it if necessary."

"_An interesting strategy, Billy._" Zordon complemented. "_However, the only other person who piloted the Battlezord was Adam and as it stands now, the current whereabouts of the other Power Rangers are unknown to us._"

"What about Trey?" Tommy suggested, referring to the Triforian Prince/Gold Ranger. "We could retrofit the Battlezord so he can..."

"_With the communications network destroyed, we have no way to send a signal to Triforia._" Zordon answered pitifully, "_Besides, the only zord Trey has ever used was Pyramidas, which is generally classified as a carrier zord. He has no experience in piloting an attack zord._"

Billy looked up for a moment and moved towards the consoles, making sure to keep Alpha's body on the floor. "I'll do it."

Tommy's eyes widened. "You can't go."

"I already configured the Battlezord to recognize my thought patterns while I did yours," Billy assured, "in case the time necessitated it. Like now."

Tommy shook his head. "No way, Billy. I'm not risking it."

"Doesn't look like you have much of a choice." Billy countered. "As it stands right now, the other Rangers are beyond our reach in who knows where. Without a communication network, it'd be really difficult to contact anyone three miles from here, let alone someone in another country, let alone someone on another planet."

"You don't have any powers."

"I may not have any Ranger powers, but I do have this." As Billy spoke those words, he pulled something out of his jeans pocket and held it firmly in his hand. Tommy stared blankly at the closed fist and noticed that it started to glow a faint blue. In seconds, the glow grew stronger until an aura surrounded Billy's fist completely. Tommy stared in awe as Billy opened up his fist to reveal the source of the aura; a golden coin with a triceratops' head engraved into it.

"_A power coin?_" Zordon observed, surprised, "_How is it possible? They're-_"

"Destroyed by Rita and Zedd during the time regression?" Billy interrupted. "No, those were the Ninja coins that Ninjor had given us. This, on the other hand, is the original Blue coin that you gave me, Zordon. This coin, along with the others, were mainly dormant ever since the Thunderzords were destroyed little over two years ago. At first, I thought they were useless and thus had completely forgotten about them, but then I did some research and found out that the coins were slowly, but surely, regaining their strength.

"There isn't enough power for the morphegenic elements to activate and my old morpher is damaged beyond repair, so morphing's out of the question. However, with the coin merely in my possession, I found out that I can channel its energies and basically use it as an attribute enhancement. In essence, I have added strength, speed, endurance, and some invulnerability. I'm assuming that the same goes for the other six coins as well."

"Wait a minute." Tommy said, raising his hand, "You said the other _six_?"

"That's right." Billy answered, "Each coin has its own 'recharge' rate. Some take longer than others, as not all of them were created equally; otherwise, we'd all be wearing the same colored Ranger suits every time we morphed with them. I only found out about the coin's energy-restoring properties about a month ago. It's not too difficult to presume that the other coins were also slowly regaining their energies to the point of being used."

"So if what you're saying is valid, whoever our enemy is not only has the Dragonzord and Dagger, but he must somehow have the Green Power Coin." Zordon said gravely, "It's the only explanation as to how he is able to do this."

Tommy thought about it and suddenly it started to somewhat make a bit of sense, except for one minor detail. "Isn't the Green Coin useless?" he asked.

"Not really," Billy explained, "Rita and Zedd did drain the Green Coin of its power and the several attempts by Zordon to infuse with energy were failures. When the Wizard of Deception arrived and created a clone of Tommy, he gave him a limited-powered Green Coin. Am I correct in assuming that your doppelganger retained the Green Coin when he decided to stay in the past?"

Tommy nodded. "He didn't need it, but decided to keep it just in case."

"In that case, the Green coin could have regained its full powers without us knowing it." Billy said. Upon noticing Tommy's confused look, he elaborated. "When the clone's life ended in the past, the Green coin he was in possession of was presumably buried with him or lost. During the time that it was not seeing much use, it was slowly regaining the energy it had lost. So the coin would be fully-powered by now. This could explain his being able to utilize the Dragonzord, as well as some other powers he might possess."

For the most part, Zordon had listened to Billy's explanation without interruption, mostly because some of the things brought to light had never crossed the sage's mind ever since he first got the original Power coins. "_I'm astounded by the mass of knowledge that you have acquired in a short span of time, Billy._" the sage complemented, "_I must admit your explanation has brought to light many things I would not have known or even imagined._"

Billy shrugged, allowing himself a satisfied grin. "I guess I got bored one day and fiddled around with my old toys."

Tommy smiled, place a hand of Billy's shoulder. "I haven't the faintest clue as to what you've said, but I'm convinced."

"So am I in?" Billy asked sheepishly.

Tommy sighed heavily before answering. "You're in. Let's get to work..."

-o-

Night had fallen. Over the glow of a full moon, the Dragonzord stood close to a tall mountain as the stranger looked into his hands. In his left hand was a small gold coin with a dragon's footprint etched into it, letting out a faint green glow. Held firmly in his right hand was the Dragon Dagger, the weapon of the Green Ranger and the instrument that controlled the zord. The stranger studied the dagger for a moment before slipping it into a hidden pocket in his jacket. He placed the coin into another pocket and jumped to his feet.

"Such a beautiful night, isn't it?"

The stranger slowly turned around to see Lord Zedd standing on a rock.

"I haven't had the chance to thank you for delivering those Rangers to me," he said, "Never mind the fact that they're running rampant in my palace. I swear to the gods, Rita thought she had headaches before. That witch's probably having a migraine!"

The stranger stayed silent, glaring at Zedd.

"Not much of a talker, eh?" Zedd sighed and walked towards a nearby boulder and took a seat. "I know your secret. It took me a while to figure it out, but then I found myself spying on Zordon's boy scouts and learned something rather interesting."

No answer.

"I know you have the Green Power Coin, the coin lost long ago. I know that somehow you've discovered the coin somewhere and kept it for yourself. I know that it's with this rejuvenated coin you have acquired these powers."

No answer. Zedd continued to talk.

"It took me a very long time to put the pieces together. It makes sense, doesn't it? Coin goes back in time, gets lost over time, recovered by you, and suddenly you're the second coming. You also seem to master the true potential of the Power Coin, not just use it for morphing time. That must make you... extra special."

Again, no answer. Zedd was clearly irritated.

"You don't want to talk? Fine, but you will answer my next question!"

The stranger looked ahead attentively at Zedd.

"You've somehow brought these Rangers over to me and in a sense, I'm impressed." Zedd revealed, "but you've not delivered the Red Ranger, the one I really want."

The stranger approached Zedd slowly, but didn't give Zedd the impression of attack.

"Quite frankly, I don't care for the other Rangers," Zedd said, his voice growing louder and more angry with each passing word. "I don't care for the traitor Kat, I don't care for the better-in-black Adam, I don't care for the misplaced Tanya, and I ESPECIALLY don't care about that pachinko-obsessed joke of a former Red Ranger! I want the Red Zeo Ranger! The big fish!"

The fleshman walked up to the strange and asked in a calm voice. "Now am I going to get him?"

The stranger took another step towards Zedd to the point where there is not more than a couple inches of space between them. After what seemed like an eternity (but really only a minute) to Zedd, the stranger spoke through his concealed face.

"You'll get him. Soon enough."

Zedd noticed something familiar in the voice of this person. As if he's heard this voice before, but he couldn't quite match the face. Rather than pursue, he gave an approving nod and used his staff to teleport home, leaving the stranger alone on the cliff. Pulling out the Dragon Dagger, he played a tune... a tune that caused the massive Dragonzord to break from its trance.

It was time to strike again...

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Chapter 7

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Seven

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

The Red Battlezord cockpit had various hanging wires and circuit plates were scattered all over the place, but William Cranston wouldn't have it any other way. Even with a few tools at his disposal, the seemingly impossible task of restoring and retrofitting the zord to full strength and then some seemed almost trivial to Billy. Of course, the alure of returning to action after nearly a year of inactivity, even for one time only, more than made up for the apparently sluggish rate of progress. It has been a while since he had this much work to be done, especially since his duties at Aquitar have been meager at best.

Billy surveyed the innards of the defensive console and, satisfied with what he had seen, he slowly replaced the console back in place. Just as he was about to move on to another part of the Battlezord, Tommy's voice boomed through the intercom.

"_Billy, I got the scanners working in the Power Chamber_," he said. "_It looks like it's working good._"

"Excellent, Tommy," Billy said, "See if you can find the other Rangers."

A short pause before Tommy answered grimly, "_I just did. Still can't find them._"

"Damn," Billy cursed. "So this is going to be tougher than I had hoped."

"_How are your retrofits on the Battlezord?_" Zordon asked.

"Slowly, but smoothly," Billy said, "It's taking me a while to refamiliarize myself with the basic algorithms and specifications to the hardware, but otherwise I'm making progress. Within a short while, I'll have some extra surprises in store for our enemy."

"_Good work, Billy_," Tommy's voice blared through the audio speaker. There was another pause before the Red Ranger spoke again. "_Are you sure you want to go through with this? Even with your newfound ability to pretend you're Superman, you've been out of action for quite a while_."

Billy considered Tommy's words before finally answering. "I may be a little rusty, but I can still get the job done."

"_I've no doubt,_" said Tommy, "_I'm heading out to scout. There's a disturbance about three klicks from here_."

"_I'll join you shortly, man,_" Billy replied, "Good luck."

"You too."

-o-

"Lord Aradon?"

In the Captain's Chamber, the Cog officer through the communications system had broken Aradon out of his trance, caused by scanning through various documents and messages in the computer database, most of which seemed mesmerizing and intriguing. Various facts and figures Aradon had looked up concerning the Machine Empire, as well as official orders given to him by the Imperial Senate of the Machine Empire, who had monetary control over the core Machine colonies while Mondo was spearheading campaigns. Aradon suddenly formed a wide grin on his face upon reading several pages concerning political control.

When the Cog officer through the comm system repeated himself, Aradon pulled himself together and answered. "Yes?"

The voice blared loudly through the speakers. "Mondo has awoken, my lord."

Aradon nodded in approval. "I'll be right down."

Upon saying so, he gingerly pulled himself from his chair and exited his quarters to meet with the fallen king.

-o-

The last thing he could remember was meeting Zedd on the surface of Earth's moon. The blast from the surprise bomb took him and his royal family apart. He'd see the Winnebago that Zedd owned driving away as his remaining batteries slowly withered away into emptiness, eventually shutting down his systems.

When he awoken, he found himself in a holding cell of a skybase. Of course, the cell looked a little better than what he was commonly used to. Rather than rusted panels and steel bars, the cell had bright pastel-colored panels and the cell was sealed off with a super-durable Plexiglas material that he knew was experimental. Sitting beyond the chair was a figure that Mondo knew all too well.

"Welcome home, my 'majesty,'" the figure said mockingly. "I trust my crew has taken good care of you."

"Aradon." Mondo said the name with absolute disgust.

A Cog messenger (blue 'jumpsuit' and platinum-plated head) approached Aradon and whispered into his ear. Aradon nodded and sent the messenger away, waiting to make sure he left before turning back to his prisoner. Aradon smiled as he gazed on his captive adversary.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Gorah Khan, my 'liege'," Aradon said, almost mocking Mondo, "We're going home so you can stand trial for your crimes."

Mondo stood there and stare. Aradon couldn't tell if Mondo was worried or angry; the old constructs made it difficult to convey facial expressions effectively. Aradon didn't really care either way; he was really anxious to tell Mondo what he had heard from the homeworld.

"I have some good news and some bad news," he said, "The bad news is that you've been stripped of your crown. Apparently, the Imperial senate had decided that having a traitor for king of the Empire was 'bad' for publicity. But then again, so is a traveling king who is more concerned with dealing with a bunch of petty children rather than trying to remove the Empire from the slump that it's in."

Mondo stared ahead, almost in shock or anger. Although if his jaw could drop, it would.

"The good news," Aradon continued, "is that the senate is considering handing over all political power to either myself or your estranged son, Gasket. Of course, since no one has seen my son-in-law around, they might hand it over to me and I'll declare myself emperor. Just to screw with you."

Mondo was still silent, but that silence spoke volumes.

"It'll be funny," Aradon said enthusiastically as he slowly walked away from Mondo. "The Empire hasn't had an Emperor since the beginnings of the Empire all those eons ago. I'm sure I'll be able to clean up the mess you've made on the image of the Empire."

Again, Mondo said nothing.

"Please, don't play the silent game with me, Mondo," Aradon said agitatedly, "I know you want to come out and tear my gears out. You want to rip my innards like nothing!"

"Your innards aren't worth ripping out, you half-breed bastard!" Mondo finally screamed, his voice echoing in the near-empty brig, "You think stripping me of my crown is going to put me away? You think a trial is going to put me away for good? You're wrong! Those Ranger runts may have defeated me once, but I came back! And I'll come back from this! Your threats mean nothing, Aradon! Nothing!"

Aradon stood there as Mondo continued his rambling. Part of him wanted to drop the force field and blast the fat robot out of his misery. The other part wanted to let Mondo babble for awhile, as it was quite amusing.

_Let him vent_, he thought, _I have some time_.

"You think you'll just claim the title of emperor and everyone will follow you? You may have supporters within the colonies, supporters within the senate, but I have loyalists willing to be destroyed in my name. Not everyone will support a pitiful excuse of a machine such as yourself."

Aradon took several steps towards Mondo's cell. If it wasn't for the forcefield, the two would practically be nose-to-nose with each other.

"If you're willing to risk a civil war just to lay claim to your pathetic little crown," Aradon sneered, "then I welcome it. Because as the attack on your little Earth colony has proven, my armies can destroy yours without a single loss. Of course, you can always stand trial and spend the rest of your outdated existence rotting in a detention center."

Mondo took a moment before answering in a calm voice, "Up yours, you pompous ass."

Aradon flinched, not expecting such a response from Mondo. "I'll have a software decoder pass by and check your linguistics programming." he said calmly yet aggressively, "All that time in Sol System has caused you to develop some bad habits."

Aradon turned back and walked towards the exit, leaving the soon-to-be-ex-king alone in the brig.

-o-

After an hour of searching through the mountains, Tommy had spotted the stranger and the Dragonzord nearby some mountains and cliffs. He kept himself hidden for the most part to ensure that the stranger did not notice his presence. This was vital to maintain this element of surprise, because if this plan fails, things can fall apart real quickly. While studying the overall site, Tommy noticed something on one of the armor plates of the Dragonzord's outer body. Upon further inspection, he realized it was a blast mark; most presumably from one of the hard blows that he had delivered in his earlier fight with it. While the Dragonzord was indeed a formidable foe, it grew weaker as each battle progressed. It needed to return to its resting spot to recharge, so that the next time it emerges, it will be fully vitalized. Green coin or not, the Dragonzord cannot endure battle after battle without rest. Knowing this, Tommy assumed that the zord hadn't had a chance to rest, thus the stranger isn't all that familiar with it.

Tommy raised his communicator arm and whispered, "Billy, are you ready?"

-o-

In the cockpit of the Red Battlezord, Billy eased himself with the controls of the Battlezord, which he had configured to operate on his thought waves, but also added conventional piloting controls in case the mental controllers couldn't hold up. Upon hearing Tommy, he activated the comm system.

"All set, Tommy," he answered, confidently, "I'm going in."

Billy flipped the farthest switch to his left. Upon doing so, the Battlezord fired a proximity missile from its left shoulder which had struck the Dragonzord in the side of its head. The missile didn't do much damage, as Billy predicted, but it did get the Dragonzord's attention... and so did it gain the attention of its master, who drew the Dagger and played a haunting melody. The Dragonzord fired several of its own missiles at the Battlezord, but none of them made contact with the zord as Billy piloted towards the Green Ranger's old zord, launching another proximity missile straight for the Dragonzord's chest plate. Again, little damage was done, but the Dragonzord failed to counter and Billy had his opening.

The Battlezord threw the first shot at the startled zord and then followed up with various jabs and straight punches in rapid succession. The Dragonzord tried but couldn't keep up with the onslaught of furious punches and jabs that the Battlezord executed and it was getting pummeled. One hard jab across the chest plate of the Dragonzord had caused a small explosion to occur, knocking the massive zord down. Billy sighed and turned to the ground, where the stranger pulled out the Dragon Dagger and played the familiar tune. Upon hearing it, Billy tapped on a comm button and uttered one word.

"Go!"

Upon hearing the signal, Tommy leapt from his hiding place and tackled the stranger from behind. Both were rolling across the dirt, with Tommy struggling to take away the dagger and the stranger struggling to keep his Ranger from succeeding. After several rolls, the stranger was on his back, but delivered a fierce headbutt across Red Ranger's head, which not only got Tommy off but also cracked the visor of the Ranger's helmet. With the stranger back on his feet, he pulled out the replica Sword of Darkness and raised it above his head. Almost instinctively, Tommy pulled out his Zeo pistol and fired a concentrated blast at the sword, vaporizing it completely. He quickly followed that up with a kick to the stomach and a tackle to the ground.

Meanwhile, Billy had little trouble keeping the Dragonzord at bay with its rapid punches. Suddenly, a hard impacted rocked the Battlezord and caused some sparks to fly from the back of the cockpit. That's when he realized that the Dragonzord had used its tail to stop his momentum. Billy attempted to fire another proximity missile, but computers indicated that the launcher was inoperable as a result of a lucky shot. Cursing himself silently, he went for the second gimmick. Pressing a button, the Battlezord's visor began to glow intensely. After three seconds of charging, the visor fired off an energy blast, enough to pry the Dragonzord to a distance. When the beam dimmed, Billy saw the damage it had done; the Dragonzord's chest armor had been completely destroyed, revealed charred innards. Its tail drill, the zord's best weapon, appeared to have been ripped off or incinerated as a result of the attack; it was really hard for Billy to tell. While it was damaged, it was not defenseless, as demonstrated by the dozens of concussion missiles that the Dragonzord had launched from its finger tips at various points of the Battlezord.

The missiles pierced through the outer shell of the Battlezord, molten pieces of metal and inner circuits detaching itself from the body. The mental control mechanism, which had been used to control the Battlezord to begin with, had been destroyed as a result of a lucky shot. In the cockpit, Billy maintained his composure despite the fallen circuit boards, exploding consoles, and hanging wires around him. He tried in vain to get any semblance of movement to the zord in, even a simple head nod, but nothing happened. Almost desperate, he switched to the zord's manual controls, a feature that was largely untested because so much emphasis was placed on the mental control system. He tried again, and was relieved when the Battlezord managed to walk, albeit a bit more slowly.

"Tommy, I can't keep this up!" Billy shouted over the comm system. "I'm taking a beating here!"

On the ground, Tommy delivered a stiff kick to the side of the stranger's face. The blow was effective enough to have staggered the stranger, resulting in his dropping the Dragon Dagger. Realizing this, Tommy instinctively jumped at the dagger and managed to claim it. Collecting his bearings, he noticed the stranger running towards him and extended the dagger forwards. The stranger tried to stop himself, but soon found himself with the dagger sticking into his chest. With a quick motion, Tommy pulled the bloodied dagger out and stared blankly as the stranger dropped to his knees and eventually onto the ground.

With the Dagger on hand, Tommy pressed the whistle part of the dagger against the mouthpiece and began to play a melody. Suddenly, the Dragonzord halted its advances towards the Battlezord and proceeded to return to the sea. Tommy continued with the melody until he knew the zord had returned to the depths of which it came. Of all the things Tommy tends to be forgetful of, he was glad not to have forgotten how to use the Dagger. He turned to the cockpit (head) of the Red Battlezord, where Billy gave a thumbs up, indicating all was well.

"Head back, Billy," he said through his communicator, "I'll follow in a minute."

Billy did as he was told and piloted the Battlezord as Tommy looked on. Unbeknownst to Tommy, the stranger was slowly getting up, but was pretty silent about it. Tommy, not realizing the stranger behind him, placed the Dragon Dagger on a nearby rock and took a couple steps back. Almost hesitantly, he pulled out his Zeo Pistol and set it to maximum power. For a full minute, Tommy stared into the stained weapon of the Green Ranger; the key to commanding the Dragonzord. Finally, with great reluctance, Tommy aimed his pistol at the dagger and pulled the trigger.

The stranger's eyes widened as he saw the beam from Red Ranger's pistol traveled until it made contact with the Dragon Dagger. Almost instantly, a small but blinding explosion forced both the stranger and Tommy to cover their eyes. When the stranger looked back up, the dagger and the rock that held it were gone... for good.

Tommy sighed heavily. Turning around, he paused to see the stranger slowly get back to his feet. Tommy went into a defensive stance, but the stranger took a step back, his hand covering the wound caused by the now-destroyed dagger. Tommy dropped his guard and almost felt concerned about the well-being of his adversary, despite their battles.

"Do you have a-any idea as to what you've done?" he asked.

"I've put an end to the Dragonzord curse," the Ranger answered, his voice heavy yet unwavering, "I've made sure no one will ever use it for evil purposes."

The stranger huffed and examined his wound, which had stopped bleeding red. "You've been an excellent diversion, Tommy." he replied, "Haven't missed a beat since our last encounter."

Tommy examined the stranger more thoroughly before speaking again. Whoever this stranger was, he sounded human. "Who are you?" he asked, determined.

"It doesn't matter," the stranger answered amusedly, "You want to see the other Rangers, right?"

Tommy's face hardened when he heard the word "Rangers." He asked, "Where have you taken them?"

"Old stomping grounds, Tommy," the stranger said as he reached for something in his pocket, "You should be quite familiar with them. You've been there before. On the moon."

Tommy looked towards the stranger's hand and noticed it coming out with a closed fist. As soon as the stranger raised his arm towards Tommy, his fist opened, revealing the Green Power Coin. Before Tommy could react, a beam of green energy shot from the coin and struck onto the Red Ranger's chest, quickly covering him in green flames as he began to disappear.

"By the way," he said as Tommy faded away, "Give Lord Zedd a message for me."

The stranger stared onto the empty spot where the Red Zeo Ranger had stood. Slowly, he pulled off his bandages and cloth hood, revealing a robot head of Machine Empire design. There were some outer metal pieces similar to some of the more sophisticated droids, but the top of the head revealed the presence of an actual organic brain well fitted into the head. The face had the basic constructs similar to Mondo or Sprocket, but in place of the typical yellow eyes, it had baby blue human eyes... natural organic eyes. His lips ever so naturally as he spoke once more.

"Tell him Gasket sends his complements..."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Chapter 8

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Eight

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

"Old stomping grounds, Tommy," the stranger said as he reached for something in his pocket, "You should be quite familiar with them. You've been there before. On the moon."

Tommy looked towards the stranger's hand and noticed it coming out with a closed fist. As soon as the stranger raised his arm towards Tommy, his fist opened, revealing the Green Power Coin. Before Tommy could react, a beam of green energy shot from the coin and struck onto the Red Ranger's chest, quickly covering him in green flames as he began to disappear.

"By the way," he said as Tommy faded away, "Give Lord Zedd a message for me."

The stranger stared onto the empty spot where the Red Zeo Ranger had stood. Slowly, he pulled off his bandages and cloth hood, revealing a robot head of Machine Empire design. There were some outer metal pieces similar to some of the more sophisticated droids, but the top of the head revealed the presence of an actual organic brain well fitted into the head. The face had the basic constructs similar to Mondo or Sprocket, but in place of the typical yellow eyes, it had baby blue human eyes... natural organic eyes. His lips ever so naturally as he spoke once more.

"Tell him Gasket sends his complements," he said with a somewhat amused tone. He flipped the coin into the air and caught it again as it fell back down. A green energy glow enveloped the mechanical construct and removed his disguise, revealing robotically-fitted 'royal clothes'. Some open panels on his left arm revealed pale green organic muscles at work, and his right arm, for the most part mechanical, included a synthesized human hand, reddish in color.

"Looks like this was a good investment after all," he said in an amused tone, "Don't you agree, Archerina?"

From nowhere, beams of colored lightning struck nearby and from the fumes the counterpart to Gasket and daughter to Aradon appeared. Unlike Gasket, Archerina still looked the same as before without any outer changes, except her mouth also had the same degree of natural movement whenever she spoke.

"Father will be pleased to hear that you've found his upgrades gratifying, husband," she said cheerfully, "Although I find it uncomfortable to see you in this form, I'm almost grateful that it was well beyond expectations."

"They had to if I were to use this new toy of mine," he said, referring to the Power Coin idle in his hand. "It doesn't recognize mechanical life-forms, so without the bio-automation procedure your father suggested, it would have been worthless." He gazed down at his body for a moment before turning to Archerina. "But this body's only temporary. Aradon says he would return my consciousness to my old body when he was done with it. He's supposed to put it a human heart in there. That one simple organ is going to increase my abilities so that I can be stronger and faster."

Archerina nodded in agreement to her husband's comments. "Interesting. You never did told him how you acquired that Power Coin."

Gasket merely smiled. "I can't give all my secrets away, dear."

-o-

"_Tell him Gasket sends his compliments._"

The last words Thomas Oliver heard in a brief moment before he lost touch with his previous environment. A teleport maneuver, similar to what the stranger used to put away the other Rangers... no, the exact same way he used to force teleport Jason into Rita's dark dimension during his days as the evil Green Ranger. When Tommy materialized someplace else, he realized what the words of his enemy had meant.

_Gasket_, he thought to himself, _all this time, it was Gasket._

Tommy surveyed his surroundings; it was an empty cavern, for the most part dimly lit. Tommy could recognize this as one of Zedd's dark dimensions again, but the caves didn't have that same presence, so this must be a random moon cavern under the corrupted alien palace that Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd had controlled. Tommy studied his surroundings, slowly turning full circle as he looked for any hidden exits or passageways, but there was none. Almost suddenly, he stood face-to-face with the master of this lair and immediately went into a fighting stance. He had fought Zedd once before and defeated him, but in Tommy's mind, the victory was more a fluke than a true victory. Even in his Ranger form, Zedd was still a formidable opponent whose strength and magic far exceeded that of the Red Ranger.

"You know," Zedd said, "I was watching your fight with Gasket. Who would have thought that Mondo's kid would be able to cause all this mischief? That kid's got potential and I'm evil enough to admit it."

Tommy clenched his teeth. "Whatever you and Gasket are planning..."

Zedd held up a hand to stop Tommy's ranting. "Gasket and I didn't plan anything, you idiot. I didn't even know that was Gasket, but I'm impressed by the overall improvement of his skills. That's what the fusion of organic and mechanic substances will do to you, I suppose." He looked towards the ceiling. "It's rather interesting, isn't it? Gasket would accept an offer from his father-in-law to undergo bio-automation in return for betraying Mondo. So he mailed me this nifty bomb that I gave to Mondo as a peace offering. Took the whole bunch of those Machine idiots out, leaving his base to fall prey to Aradon's bio-automatons."

"Mondo's gone?" This was the first time Tommy had heard of either Mondo's 'departure' or Gasket's involvement in his removal from the moon.

Zedd nodded, "I'm assuming that Gasket had planned this from the start. He's helping Aradon become the undisputed Emperor of the Machine Empire. But enough talk." He held his staff firmly in both hands, preparing himself for combat, "The first answer is yes. Your friends are here. The second answer is no. I don't know where. It's hard to keep track when they running amok in the palace for no reason other than to give Rita migraines."

Tommy's fists tightened. "You're going to lose, Zedd, Just like the last time."

"Doubtful. Let's get this over." With those words, the battle had begun.

Zedd pointed his staff at Tommy, where various beams were unleashed and struck the Red Ranger. Tommy stood his ground and leapt at Zedd, but the fleshman anticipated the move and swatted towards a wall with a fierce swing from his staff. Tommy's slumped onto the concrete floor, leaving a hole in the wall he collided with. Flipping back to his feet, Tommy dodged another of Zedd's bolts and managed to score a hit on Zedd with a kick to the chest. Zedd staggered backwards for a moment, but quickly regained his bearings before facing the Red Ranger.

"Is that your best?" the fleshman taunted.

Tommy's first idea was to break away Zedd's staff, which had won him the battle before. So he took our his Zeo Blade and tossed it at Zedd. However, Zedd managed to deflect the sword with his staff. The move was enough for Tommy to pull out his blaster and fired several shots, most of which Zedd blocked. One lucky shot managed to stun Zedd, causing him to drop his staff. Tommy began to aim for the staff, but when he had a clear view of it, he saw that the staff was broken. When he returned his gaze to Zedd, he had a strange blaster in his hand and fired three shots at Tommy. Tommy managed to dodge two of the shots, but the third shot hit the back of Tommy's head. Tommy, almost surprised that he felt no pain, smiled behind his helmet as he took a defensive stance against Zedd.

"Your toy gun didn't work, Zedd." the Red Ranger said smugly.

Almost worriedly, Zedd fired another shot which landed on the Red Ranger's chest. Almost instantly upon the blast's impact, the Ranger suit quickly disintegrated, leaving behind Tommy in his civilian form. Tommy looked over himself to find his Ranger suit gone and when he turned back, he was met with a quick jab from Zedd. The impact of the jab was enough to knock Tommy against a nearby wall.

"I take it you've never encountered one of these before?" Zedd laughed as he waved the blaster around. "I wouldn't be surprised. It's a prototype polaron disruptor, straight from the Machine Empire."

Tommy stayed silent, his eyes affixed to the blaster.

"I was able to swap this beauty from Mondo's scrapyards," Zedd mused. "They designed it to be a powerful weapon to be used in planetary raids, but much like my own personal warzord Serpenterra, it had required too much power and was only capable of firing a few shots at most. As a matter of fact, you'll be relieved to know that I've all but exhausted its supply of energy."

Tommy managed a faint smile as Zedd tossed the blaster aside. "Too bad for you."

"And for you as well, Ranger," Zedd said, "For what Mondo didn't know is that the properties of polaron particles is capable of disrupting a Ranger's connection to the morphing grid, not only disabling a morphed state, but also draining its power source for a period of time. How long a period of time is... hard to say, but I would imagine that your Zeonisers would be useless for quite some time." He took a step closer to Tommy, who recoiled slightly in response. "I've learned about this weakness shortly after my marriage to Rita, when I studied the properties of the vortex within the theatre house you Rangers were trapped in years ago. I'll admit that it took me some time to fully understand, but what it comes down to is that this power vortex that was disrupting your powers at the time had been emanating a sizeable concentration of polaron energy emanating from the vortex.

"If I had known then what I knew now, I would've had access to a weapon that would finished off the lot of you long ago. Likewise, if Mondo knew what I knew, he would have continued his research into that weapon."

Tommy winced, shaking the headaches away. "You're boring me to sleep, Zedd."

Zedd let out a chuckle, sending Tommy chills. "I assure you that once I'm through with you, you will not have to worry about being bored to unconsciousness. I will gladly bring you to that state forcibly."

Both Tommy and Zedd fell into defensive postures, slowly making their way to the center of the chamber. The two opponents let out heavy breaths as they stared into each other's eyes.

"On this day, we settle this feud between us," the fleshman growled, "No lives to threaten, no powers to steal, nothing at stake except personal pride. Whether your friends make it out of my palace is no longer my concern. On this day, we fight to the bitter end."

"Fine by me, Zedd!" Tommy spat, "I'm gonna beat your ass to the ground!"

Tommy rushed forward with a spinning heel kick, which Zedd managed to dodge easily and counter with a side kick of his own, to which Tommy also dodged. Tommy followed with a hard right hand that smashed against Zedd's metal mask, bending the mouthpiece slightly inward. Zedd blocked the follow-up roundhouse kick and countered with a sweep kick that knocked the Red Ranger to the ground. Zedd felt a bit of choking that forced him to cough, then he noticed that he spewed a crimson liquid from his mask. He looked down at Tommy as he struggled to get back on his feet.

"My congratulations, Red Ranger," Zedd complimented while breathing heavily, "You're the first being to make me spit out my own blood."

Tommy puffed without answering. He dashed at Zedd and tackled the fleshman to the ground, following up with several hard punches to the head, all of which Zedd managed to block with his arms. After a missed jab, Zedd landed a hard right to Tommy's stomach and knocked him down with a stiff headbutt. Tommy hit the ground hard, aching in pain. Zedd soon merely walked up and delivered a hard, unassuming kick to the grounded Red Ranger's chest, causing his adversary to recoil towards the end of the room.

"Don't give up, Tommy!" he said in a mocking voice as he landed two hard stomps on Tommy's head, "You can do it, Tommy!"

Zedd walked over to the fallen human with the intent of another kick, but was met with a hard elbow to the chest, which momentarily stunned him. Now on his knees, Tommy threw hard punches at Zedd's lower abdomen, stunning the fleshman. Slowly, Tommy was up on one knee, but still continuing with the rapid-fire barrage of quick jabs to the chest. When he was fully standing, Tommy threw an uppercut that made Zedd recoil a step back. Another uppercut made the fleshman recoil further back against the stone wall. Tommy kept up with this relentless assault of hard jabs and uppercuts that Zedd all took, wincing in pain. Finally, a jumping spin kick seemed to be the killing blow, but the Lord crouched down to avoid the kick and delivered a fierce uppercut of his own across Tommy's jaw. Zedd slowly approached the dazed Red Ranger and wrapped his enemy's head with his left arm. Despite a couple of hits from Tommy's elbow, Zedd did not let go. After a moment, Zedd fell back-first the ground, driving Tommy's head into the pavement with excruciating force. The maneuver stunned Tommy for a moment, who was groaning in pain.

Zedd promptly stood from the ground and looked down on his beaten opponent, who slowly brought himself to stand on one knee. Tommy raised his head upwards, only to be greeted by Zedd's foot planted firmly in his cheek. The full-impact of the blow had managed to knock Tommy back the ground.

Zedd laughed as he faced his fallen opponent. "Pathetic fool."

Not satisfied with the beating, Zedd grabbed Tommy by the neck, his grip so tight he was practically choking. When Zedd got Tommy back to his feet, he tossed him towards the wall. The Ranger's body practically shattered through the stone wall into another chamber, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Zedd walked through the newly created hole in the wall to see Tommy struggling to breathe and to get back on his feet, but the fleshman would not allow it, as he would kick Tommy's stomach, the force practically lifting the human's body off the ground before landing. Confident that the human was finished, Zedd proceeded to lift his right foot slowly over the Ranger's head and quickly brought it down, but Tommy instinctively rolled out of the way.

With the missed stomp, Zedd left himself open to Tommy, who capitalized with a hard kick to the chest. Slowly managing the strength to stand, Tommy headbutted Zedd's stomach and as soon as he was standing, he threw a hard right across the fleshman's mask, slightly cracking the visor. With Zedd staggering, Tommy kept pounding on the Dark lord with closed fists, not giving him a chance to block or counter. But Tommy made a vital mistake by attempting a roundhouse, in which Zedd managed to block away with his fist. The next move was Zedd's and he capitalized with a hard right to Tommy's face. Now Zedd was delivering the hard blows. Tommy tried, as hard as he could, to block his blows, but they were too powerful. Eventually, Zedd stopped and took one hard look at the Ranger, who stood there dizzied, his right eyebrow cut open, and his nose bloodied. One fierce backfist later, the Red Zeo Ranger crumbled to the ground in a heap. Zedd waited for the Ranger to get up, but instead the Ranger laid there, a beaten man.

Lord Zedd was triumphant over Thomas Oliver, his long hated enemy.

There was a long, pained silence between the two of them, aside from the human's heavily breathing. Zedd reformed his recently discard staff in his hands and positioned the sharp, bladed edge over Tommy's head. Whether he was aware of Zedd or not, he couldn't tell nor did he have the energy to do anything. Zedd held the staff firmly with both hands, his arms almost shaking as he prepared to deliver the killing blow. But rather than thrusting the bladed-edge of his staff through the Red Ranger's skull, Zedd tossed the shiny weapon away and backed off without removing his gaze from his fallen enemy, who managed to gain some movement in his hands.

"It's over, Tommy." Zedd said, an almost sympathetic tone lurking in his words.

"It's not over!" Tommy growled, fiercely. He tried to pull himself back to his feet, but would collapse to the stoned ground. His eyes would shut, but he was still breathing heavily.

Zedd stared down at the beaten human who was struggling to get back to his feet, but kept falling. After three attempts to get up and fail, Zedd sighed. Even a being with as much hate and/or evil as Zedd felt a bit of pity for the Ranger.

"No," he said, his voice unwavering yet sad. "It is over. I already have what I wanted."

-o-

For the past hour, the four Zeo Rangers navigated various tunnels, halls, and caverns searching for a way out, all the while trying to avoid Zedd's rock putty soldiers. Other than a couple of unavoidable battles, the search has been uneventful. At this point, it almost seemed hopeless, but as luck would have it, Kat noticed a large wooden door at the end of one tunnel, almost half-smiling that she's found something. The four approached the door cautiously, checking for traps as they go.

"Is this the way out?" Rocky said.

"Only one way to find out," Adam said as he reached for the door handle and slowly opened it.

All four Rangers entered a large cavernous room, similar to the others. However, they noticed Lord Zedd standing over a bloodied and beaten person. Kat shrieked upon recognizing him.

"Tommy?" she cried out as she rushed towards him.

Zedd took a step back while the Rangers tended to their fallen leader. They called out various things at him, all cliches he had heard in the past from the whole bunch of warriors who butted heads with him.

"You'll pay for this, Zedd!" Rocky growled.

"You can't take us all on!" Adam shouted angrily, almost going into a fighting stance.

"Enough," Zedd said, shaking his head. "Save your breath, Rangers. I've already got what I wanted." He suddenly raised his fingers towards a wall, which exploded and revealed a blue portal.

"Go."

"What?" The Rangers (minus Tommy) almost gasped in unison. They hadn't expected this.

"This gate will lead you back to the Power Chamber," he barked as he turned towards the gate. "I've got what I wanted. I have no use for any of you. Now leave."

With that said, the fleshman vanished in a flash of light, leaving the Zeo Rangers along with their beaten leader. Kat soothed Tommy's hair while Rocky stood, staring for a moment at the portal and turning to the spot where Zedd had disappeared.

Dejectedly, Rocky hung his head and turned to the others. "Let's go home."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	9. Chapter 9

**POWER RANGERS ZEO  
SHADOW OF THE DRAGON**

Chapter Nine (Conclusion)

Written by DTM666

Originally Published on : November 2003 to May 2004

First volume of the _Breakdown_ trilogy, which is followed by _Power Rangers: Breakdown_ and _Power Rangers: Zero Hour_.

Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.

-o-

The victorious fleet of Aradon, after a two day travel from Earth, arrived at Gorah Khan. While the Machine Empire was spread across the galaxy and then some, many considered the planet of Gorah Khan as its homeworld. The planet was about twice the size of Jupiter, but the land territory was nothing but various rocks and mountains. Practically a thousandth of the planet contained water, but the atmosphere was fit for organics. It had to be, because without this atmosphere, Aradon's famed bio-automated technology would not function.

Eventually the fleet reached visual proximity of the Machine capital city, the largest of five cities on Gorah Khan and clearly the most cleaner. While the other four cities were similar to Mondo's space colony in terms of construction; rugged, industrial plants with fumes of smoke and acid dominating the air, the capital city bore very little of the industrial influence and hence, the city had a clean look to it, comprising of nothing more than crystal and iron buildings that would rival any Eltarian metropolis.

The highest tower located in the center of the city had various branches extended from the very tip of the high point, branches that were connected to multiple skybases and attack cruisers docked there. Below the vessels were various industrial sites and other towers similar to Mondo's machine colony, except these buildings seemed to be less mechanical and more organic in nature. The city was surrounded by a wall of fire, presumably six miles high.

Aradon looked on and smiled. Not so long ago, he only headed a small colony world and several continents. Now this planet, along with the other thousand colonies, would soon be under his rule. And he would set things right.

"Emperor Aradon," the Cog navigator said, "We have been given clearance to dock at Port Seven."

"Proceed." Aradon said, "And don't call me that yet. There's still other matters to settle before it's official."

-o-

At first, he couldn't see anything, but after squinting his eyes for a bit, Tommy found himself staring at the ceiling of the rebuilt Power Chamber. Slowly, he got himself to a sitting position, which had caught the attention of the other Zeo Rangers and William Cranston. He breathed a sigh of relief in knowing his friends were all fine and well, mostly worried over him.

Kat was the first to speak. "You alright, Tommy?"

"A bit of a headache," Tommy admitted, holding his head, "But I'll live. How long was I out?"

"We found you about an hour ago and came back here through a portal Zedd produced." Rocky answered, much to the confusion of Tommy, "You really looked like shit when we found you there, so Alpha managed to fix you up."

"_We are all relieved that you were able to recover, Tommy,_" Zordon said, "_We all feared for the worst. But I cannot help but feel puzzled by the fact that Lord Zedd had shown mercy._"

"Yeah," Adam said concurringly, "I mean, I was expecting things to get ugly back there, but Zedd opened a portal and just told us to leave. No struggle, no tricks, no nothing. He just told us to leave and left."

Tommy digested the Green Ranger's assessment, but couldn't understand why Zedd did what he did when he clearly had the upper hand in the fight.

"What did Zedd mean when he said he got what he wanted?" Tanya asked curiously.

"I know what he meant." he said, the thought lingering deep within his mind. When he saw the worried looks of his friends, he simply gave a half-smile. "Forget it. I have a feeling he won't be bothering us any time soon."

The Rangers nodded in agreement, but knew otherwise.

-o-

Zedd stood on the balcony of the throne room, his eyes affixed. While the battle had long and gone, the damage he had suffered were still visible. The dented mouthpiece and cracked visor did not show any signs of reforming like they usually did, but the fleshman didn't care. His mind shifted back to that moment when he had the Ranger down, that moment when he had the chance to end the human's miserable life. He wondered why he didn't go for the kill, why he felt pity for a man he hated with a passion. His head ached with thoughts of how...

"Congratulations, Zedd," a voice said, "You have officially gone soft."

Zedd huffed, not checking for the source. "Save your breath, Gasket. By the way, I liked your new look better."

Gasket emerged from the shadows of the throne room, his consciousness returned to his original host body which remained mostly the same. The only noticeable difference was the outer 'skin' was a bronze color rather than silver.

"I said I'd deliver him to you in one piece, Zedd." he rebutted, his lips moving naturally, "My 'new look' was a temporary body while this body got fixed."

Zedd thought of an insult, but went against it. "So how does it feel to be a half-breed?"

"Not as bad as expected." Gasket answered wittily, stretching his arms a bit, "Suddenly I realize why Mondo and Aradon hate each other."

"How does it feel to be in possession of a power coin?"

While he knew it was intended to strike a nerve, Gasket merely considered the question deeply before answering. "Without the Dragonzord and the instrument to control it, all I have is a powerful artifact that has given me powers I've never dreamed of. It's damned good. To think I almost rejected Aradon's bio-automation proposal, because my new organic components are the only thing enabling me to utilize this coin."

"Bio-automation?" This was the first Zedd had heard of it, but then again, he hadn't been keeping up with Machine Empire politics considering he was busy with other matters.

"Aradon came up with it. It's the integration of organic components into the machine infrastructure that would result in enhanced performance. At first, I thought the whole idea was ridiculous; organics are much weaker than machines and the process seemed more of a downgrade than an enhancement. But then he said that bio-automation would allow me to use this coin, that a pure machine would never be able to harness the full power of this coin. So I accepted his offer, transferred my consciousness into a prototype while this body was getting worked on by his scientists. And the rest... well, you know."

"So the attacks on the Rangers was nothing more than a test run," the fleshman asked, "You needed to rid yourself of your father for this plan to work."

Gasket nodded. "Now that I'm back in my old body, I feel better than before. More so now that I have access to this coin's true power." He wanted to say more, but quickly silenced himself when he took note of Zedd's posture, which gave a message of disinterest and fatigue.

"If you don't mind," Zedd said, "it's getting late and I'm tired."

Gasket watched silently as Zedd walked out of the throne room. Suddenly Zedd stopped, his muscles frozen in place. The next few minutes caught Gasket off-guard as he witnessed Zedd scream in rage, lifting his throne and tossing it at the rotating fan, smashing it to the other side of the wall. Zedd dropped to his knees, breathing heavily and hard.

"So the fight with the Red Ranger had taken a toll on you, hasn't it?" he said perplexingly, "In any case, I have matters to settle. We will meet again when you've regained your spine."

As Gasket turned to the balcony, Zedd slowly got to his feet and raised his right hand. From his fingertips, a lightning bolt formed and struck Gasket in the back, causing him to stagger on the railing. Zedd quickly vanished from his spot and reappeared right behind the former prince, grabbing him by his throat. Zedd's body began to glow a faint red as he lifted Gasket by the neck.

"You may have aided me in ridding myself of your father," Zedd said, "but my business with the Red Ranger is none of your concern."

Gasket tried to speak, but Zedd's grip tightened.

"Remember that regardless of what upgrades or weapons you have acquired," the fleshman said angrily, "you are still no match for me."

Finally, Zedd tossed Gasket onto the chamber floor. The Machine Prince managed to roll over as he landed on the floor and soon made it back to his feet. He thought of strike back at Zedd, but thought against it. Instead, he merely nodded and crossed his arms. Soon enough, Gasket vanished and Zedd found himself alone in the throne room. He turned to the smashed fan and with a wave of his hand, the fan was restored along with the throne placed in its proper space. The fleshman looked around for a moment before leaving the throne room.

The halls of the palace seemed rather quiet compared to a few hours ago when he heard the rampant marches of Rock putty soldiers scattering about searching for the Rangers. Now, aside from the occasion wind whistles, there wasn't any sound. No screeching sounds from Rita, no stupidities from Rito, not even sounds of Goldar's degrading groveling that had been an annoyance. Quite frankly, Zedd enjoyed the dead silence of the palace. After five minutes of navigating halls, Zedd stepped into the master bedroom, where he saw Rita Repulsa sitting by the corner reading a rusted hardcover book.

"So?" The sorceress asked without removing her gaze from the book.

Zedd tossed his staff aside and stared at Rita. "So what?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" Rita said rhetorically, again her eyes not swaying from the book.

The fleshman groaned once more before looking at the emerald planet through his chamber window. Shaking his head, he closed the window door, blocking the view, and went into the back closet.

"I'm tired, Rita." Zedd said in admission. "I'm going to bed."

-o-

Mondo sat idly in his chamber, contemplating his future as his most hated rival was about to claim leadership of the Machine Empire. Then he had conflicting thoughts on how Aradon would not get to be Emperor while he was still standing, as well as worries that the Empire would go along with the new leadership. In the end, his mind shifted to attempting to formulate an escape plan, for without Mondo to bring in, Aradon would be shunned from leadership.

Almost on cue, he heard loud explosions from the higher decks and sounds of intense weapons fire close by, which had caused the three Cog guards to position themselves in front of the main blast door. Then it all happened quickly; the blast doors are destroyed with a bomb and the pieces of debris fly all over the brig, decapitating the three guards and impaling them with pieces of metal. From the smoke emerged several old-style Cog soldiers led by a larger robot with antennae on his head. The larger bot raised his hand towards the control panel and fired a beam, destroying the panel and shattering the Plexiglas that had sealed Mondo in. With confidence, Mondo slowly stepped out of his prison a free man.

"General Venjix of the Royal Guard," the large robot said as he kneeled before Mondo, "I am here to serve the true leader of the Empire, King Mondo."

Mondo raised his hand, signaling the robot named Venjix to stand. "You are doing a great service to the Empire by freeing me," he said, "What of my family?"

"We managed to acquire their parts and brought them aboard our ship," Venjix answered, "We must not delay, sire. Aradon has sent for reinforcements and our small crew cannot fight a battalion of half-breed Cogs."

Mondo nodded in agreement. "Let's get out of here then."

And so, Mondo, General Venjix, and his Cog crew left the brig behind and fled for their ship. Almost immediately, Cog forces led Mondo to the medical bay where he would be treated for damage. But the external damage that Mondo has suffered this day will be healed. The damage done within his very being will take longer to mend, but Mondo has no time for that now.

He has to prepare for war.

-o-

The sleek shuttle landed gingerly on the surface of the moon as Gasket stood, holding the power coin firmly in his hand. As it landed, Gasket placed the coin on his chest armor and watched as the armor absorbed the coin within. Turning his attention towards the shuttle, he noticed the side door opened and saw a figure wearing a maroon-colored cloak with gold linings step out and slowly approach Gasket.

"It's about time you got here," Gasket said. "You'll be happy to know that the coin still works, much better than I anticipated. However, the Dragon Dagger has been destroyed by the Red Ranger and so the Dragonzord is inaccessible. As agreed, in exchange for your services, I will give you the information you need to create your 'secret army.'"

The cloaked figure said nothing. In fact, he pulled from his cloak a circular datadisk with the insignia of the Machine Empire on it. Various burn marks and cracks were clearly visible.

"What is it?" Gasket asked, before noticing the damaged datadisk in his hand. "Where did you get that?"

Gasket took two steps towards the cloaked figure before starting to feel somewhat nauseous, something that he hadn't felt before. When he recovered, he noticed the cloaked figure pointing a blaster at point blank. By the time Gasket recognized the threat, it was too late to do anything about it, for the burst had short-circuited his systems.

The cloaked figure watched as Gasket staggered back and forth before the former Machine Prince eventually fell to the ground. Standing over the twitching body of Gasket, the cloaked figure removed his hood, revealing the face of Thomas Oliver, only with few differences. For one, he had streaks of white hair among a head of long, flowing shoulder-length gray hair and he had a tiny bit of gray facial hair on his chin. There was a long scar that ran across his left eye, but the eye itself is healthy.

"Pathetic machine," he muttered as he kneeled down and effortlessly punched through Gasket's outer armor, plucking the green coin from his innards as he pulled his fist out, "Did you really think I would let you keep this?"

Gasket looked in utter shock on as 'Thomas' examined the coin and tucked it in his pocket. His mouth moved, but no words came about.

"This was on loan so you could challenge my 'original,'" he said, "My being there would have aroused suspicion, but they never would have suspected you. And they didn't. As far as they're concerned, they think you stole the coin when you found my 'grave' somewhere... out there. You thought that my body was well preserved because of the increasing powers of the coin, so you took it and allowed me to rot in the tomb.

"But you didn't count on me being alive, did you? The fact didn't compute that this clone, sent several hundred years to the past because he couldn't co-exist with his 'original', was still alive and in healthy condition. It never occurred to you that the person you were dealing with to offer you safe haven to Earth was the man whose tomb you've raided. Admittedly, I thought of surprising you when you raided my tomb, but since you were so insistent on fighting my original, I let you keep it for the time being. But not permanently, I assure you. And now, my friend, as a once-almighty tyrant used to say, 'it's time to pay the piper.'"

'Thomas' waited for Gasket to respond. After a few seconds, Gasket shook his head nervously, his mouth muttering what 'Thomas' recognized as naughty words, but no voice came out. 'Thomas' merely sighed as he aimed the blaster directly over Gasket's forehead and pulled the trigger. The blast was enough to disable the robot for good. 'Thomas' watched as the robot twitched until it laid there motionless. Satisfied with the turn of events, 'Thomas' allowed himself a grin.

"Wizard was right when he said I could never die, that I have an immortality code built in," he chuckled, "But fooling you and my 'original' was the easy part." He turned his view towards the emerald planet known as Earth. "Take a good long rest, Tommy-boy, and enjoy life as you know it. Because when we cross paths once again, there won't be any of that good versus evil bullshit to get in the way of that dream fight you and I are destined to have."

With those words, the clone of Thomas Oliver, the creation of the deceased Wizard of Deception, boarded his shuttle and left the Earth, Gasket's inactive corpse, and his 'original' behind, contemplating what the future has in store...

THE END?


End file.
